Jerod Mayo isn’t getting too comfortable. Not yet, anyway.

Just because he’s coming off a first season in the pros where he was named Defensive Rookie of the Year, became one of the cornerstones of the New England defense and led the Patriots in tackles, it doesn’t mean he’s settled into what he’s calling “veteran status.”

“I have a few games to go before I have veteran status,” he said Thursday morning after a workout at Gillette Stadium. “To be honest, I have to wait until we get back into camp or something like that, to see if I’m still opening up doors for people and everything like that. I’ll let you know then.”

Mayo shouldn’t be surprised if people start opening doors for him soon. The 23-year-old is coming off one of the best seasons any rookie defensive player has enjoyed under Bill Belichick. The 6-foot-1, 242-pound linebacker started all 16 games for the Patriots last season, and led the Patriots in tackles seven times. In five of those games, he hit double-digits, including a 23-tackle effort in an overtime loss to the Jets.

While several parts of the New England defense were shuffled on and off the field at certain times last year — whether it was because of injury or personnel decisions — Mayo was a rock. Whether it was lining up alongside fellow inside linebackers Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau or Gary Guyton, he was a constant presence for the Patriots’ defense. It was good enough to make him just the second player in Patriots’ history to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year — he got 49 of the 50 votes — and garner the respect of his coaches and teammates.

“As a rookie, to come in and to step up to the plate and basically been thrown into the fire, I think he’s handled it pretty well,” nose tackle Vince Wilfork said last season. “He’s one heck of a player, and he’s going to get better and better as time rolls on.”

“From day one, he has been a well-prepared, very mature player who can do a lot of things: play in the running game, play in the passing game, blitz, helps us in the kicking game,” Belichick said when asked about Mayo late last season. “He's a good football player that has good versatility. He's smart, makes a lot of defensive adjustments and calls for us. He runs well. He is tough. He is a good all around football player. He is very mature. He is very professional.

“For a rookie, he is probably as professional as anybody I've coached.”

After a rookie year with those kinds of numbers, you wouldn’t blame a guy for kicking back and coasting through the offseason. Not Mayo. He said he has only been back home once during the offseason, instead setting up shop at Gillette Stadium and throwing himself into the offseason program. Mayo said there were plenty of times last year where he wasn’t as comfortable as he should be, and wants to fix that in 2009.

“To be honest, I feel like I can get so much better,” he said. “Last year, I felt like the season I had was OK, but I felt like I could have made so many more plays, big plays, especially. I’ve just been watching the tape from last year, in the weight room, and trying to get better and learn from these vets.

“I feel like I can improve in all aspects of my game. I really … I knew the playbook last year, but I didn’t know it to the point where I was out there reacting. The same time, I was out there thinking and trying to use my athleticism to make up for mistakes.”

Specifically, he’d like to improve his big-play capabilities — he finished with just one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and no interceptions last season. In addition, while he acknowledged that even though his role in the New England defense last year didn’t call for him to do much pass rushing, he’d love the chance to do more of it this coming season.

“Playing linebacker, that’s the type of thing that you’re expected to do — make interceptions, force fumbles and things like that. That’s one aspect of my game I’m looking forward to improving this year,” he said. “To be honest, I didn’t do as much blitzing, but hopefully, this year, my role will expand in that aspect.”

It has been a long year for Mayo, who can recall going through a “hectic” pre-draft schedule last season before New England took him with the 10th overall pick last April. Now, he’s getting ready to welcome a new class of rookies to Gillette Stadium later this month. According to Mayo, there’s an easy way for rookies to survive in New England.

“Just to listen. I know last year every time I did an interview, you heard me say I wanted to be a sponge and soak up as much as I could, and that’s the advice I would give them,” he said. “There are a lot of great veterans on this team, and I’m sure it’s not like this everywhere, but if you come here, you have a lot of older players to learn from.”

Christopher Price covers the Patriots for WEEI.com.