If you’re a left tackle, the more anonymous you are, the better. If you’re doing your job, you never want anyone to say anything. Usually, the only time a left tackle's name is mentioned is when he gets his quarterback demolished. Like a baseball umpire, if no one mentions your name, you’re probably doing your job correctly.

More often than not, we in the media didn’t write much at all about Matt Light in his 11 years in a New England uniform. Sure, there was the occasional story about his struggles with Jason Taylor, Aaron Schobel or some other pass-rushing demon that gave the entire league fits. But throughout his career -- 175 games, 173 starts -- Light proved equal to the task when it came to protecting Tom Brady’s blind side. Subsequently, we didn’t have to write a whole lot of stories about him, and that was OK by Light.

That didn’t mean we in the media didn’t want to talk to him. Over the years, we kept coming back to the Purdue product, who moved into the starting lineup as a rookie in 2001 and stayed there. Usually, it was because that when he talked, he was genuinely funny, insightful and unafraid to bring some critical analysis to the table when warranted, whether he was pointing the finger at himself or a teammate. Over the years, the rest of the offensive line turned over two and three times, but Light remained a steady presence. One of lthe last links to Super Bowl XXXVI remaining on the roster (along with Tom Brady and Kevin Faulk), he was there through good times and bad.

On the occasion of his retirement, two other things stand out about Light:

1. He was one of the first examples of Bill Belichick’s draft strategy that made everyone go “Huh?” As described very well by Dan Snapp here, this was really the first draft when everyone expected Bill Belichick to do one thing (draft a wide receiver or pass rusher) and he instead went after a defensive lineman and offensive lineman with the selection of Richard Seymour in the first round and Light in the second. Of course, they would become pillars of the franchise. (It’s also worth noting that Light was nearly a Jet. If New England hadn’t traded up to No. 48 -- one spot ahead of New York -- it’s likely the Jets would have taken him. Instead, New York took running back LaMont Jordan. Good trade-off.)

2. He was philanthropic to the core, and that extended to us in the working press as well. He created the Light Foundation, and in 2008 he provided a sizable donation to help create an annual scholarship in the name of the late Danny Pires, who covered the Patriots for many years for the New Bedford Standard-Times before passing away in 2008. For those of us who knew Dan, it was a gracious move that earned the respect of the media.

While Light won’t have to worry about being fitted for a yellow jacket or preparing a speech at Canton, for what the team asked of him -- namely, not get Brady killed on a weekly basis -- he will almost certainly land a spot in the Patriots Hall of Fame.

“Matt Light has always been a consistently good, if not great, left tackle,” said Pro Football Focus' Sam Monson, who was asked to put a bow on Light’s career from an analytical perspective. ”He’s usually a very sound run blocker, and rarely gets taken to pieces by anybody in pass protection.

“The left tackle gets talked up a lot as a vital part of an offense these days, but in truth I think it’s far more important to simply not have a bad one than it is to have an elite guy there,” Monson said. “Once they’re not a liability and a reason the pass game is collapsing, then there isn’t a huge difference between a pretty good guy and an elite guy in terms of their impact on the game. Matt Light always did more than enough to let Tom Brady be Tom Brady.”

With all good offensive linemen, one of the secrets to their success is trust. You need to have it amongst your fellow linemen, and you need the trust of the quarterback. And while there were occasional temps at the left tackle spot over the last 11 years, no one trusted Light more than No. 12.

“In my position, you always want to know that your backside is protected. There’s nobody else I’d rather have over there. He’s a great player,” Brady once said of Light. “He’s goofy as hell, but I love him. I love the fact that he’s over there.”

Light won’t get the chance to be your ordinary anonymous offensive lineman on Monday. His retirement announcement will be the first one to be held at the Patriots Hall of Fame, something that franchise favorites Tedy Bruschi and Troy Brown didn’t get to do. On this occasion, he’ll likely OK being in the spotlight.