FOXBOROUGH -- When he arrived in 1996, pro football in New England wasn’t much more than metal bleachers and dirt parking lots, tiny locker rooms and cold showers. Patriots Place was a gleam in Robert Kraft’s eye, and while the thought of New England playing host to a football dynasty wasn’t laughable, it was a bit of a stretch.

But Monday morning, when Tedy Bruschi said farewell to life as a New England Patriot football player after 13 seasons, shopping malls, movie theaters and restaurants surrounded the state-of-the-art stadium. The franchise is one of the most stable in all of professional sports. And the team has three Super Bowl championships.

This is not an accident. While no one is suggesting that Bruschi is responsible for turning the Patriots into a money-making machine and a football dynasty, it’s not a coincidence they’ve enjoyed an almost unparalleled run of success while he’s been here. The undersized defensive lineman-turned-linebacker and his relentless spirit of overachievement rubbed off on everyone with whom he came into contact in his 13 years as a player with New England. As a result, he helped alter the landscape in Foxborough, both figuratively and literally.

So it was no surprise that when Kraft spoke Monday of Bruschi’s contributions to the franchise, he sounded less like a football owner talking about a linebacker and more like a man giving away a gold watch to the top salesman at a retirement dinner.

“Tedy embodies everything we want the Patriot brand to stand for,” Kraft said.

As Bruschi grew as a player -- from situational and special teams linebacker to starter and eventual Pro Bowler -- so did the franchise. The metal bleachers gave way to club seats, the parking lots were paved over and wins started pouring in.

“It’s funny. My development as a player has coincided this development as an organization,” Bruschi said. “The growth of this organization now, to see out there on Route 1 is … I correlate it with the growth I had as a player. It makes me feel that much more connected to the logo on the side of the helmet.”

No one was more connected to the logo on the side of the Patriots helmet than Bruschi. He talked Monday of having a “different” kind of career, and he was correct. Most football players are happy to get in and out of the game with their senses intact. Few get a chance to win a ring. Fewer still get multiple championships. And then, there are the rare players like Bruschi who get a chance to become a real transformative figure for a franchise, a real agent of change.

“He’s helped create a tradition here we are all proud of,” said a visibly emotional coach Bill Belichick.

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That was seen first and foremost every day in the locker room, where, more often than not, the team took its cue from the veteran linebacker. Whether it was watching film after a loss, trying to raise the energy level during a practice or coming through with a big turnover in the biggest of situations, Bruschi disappointed. And he always knew the right tone to strike. If the team needed a laugh, he delivered the joke. If the team needed a spark, he lit the match. And if someone needed a kick in the backside, he wasn’t afraid to deliver it.

“He always did the right thing,” Belichick said. “Whatever was the right thing at that moment, it seemed like he hit it on the head.”

“He set an example from the day that I got here on what it means to be a professional athlete and what it means to play for the New England Patriots,” quarterback Tom Brady told WEEI Monday morning. “He held himself to a very high standard. Every day, he came out to that practice field as a leader with energy and enthusiasm, and it was reflected in the way that he played.”

“If you ask me to sum it up how I feel about Tedy Bruschi in five seconds,” Belichick added, “he’s the perfect player. He’s the perfect player.”

That perfect player is now moving on with the next stage of his life. He said Monday he didn’t know what that would entail -- coaching, broadcasting, whatever. (“Whatever comes, I’ll listen to it. If I like it, yes. If I don’t, no,” he said. “I think that’s just the way you have to handle things.”) The Patriots will go on. There will be practices and games, and the franchise will continue to grow and evolve.

But for the first time since 1996, it’ll move on without Bruschi.

“I did my job for 13 years and now my job is done,” Bruschi said, referencing the familiar “Do Your Job” sign at the front of the players’ entrance at Gillette Stadium. “I’m looking forward to living the rest of my life.”