Turns out 'Patriot Way' is Devin Lucien's way

FOXBORO — A free agent since mid-May, Devin Lucien was working out on his own waiting for another NFL opportunity when he suddenly found his services in high demand at the start of this week.

The Patriots' draft pick in 2016 was scheduled to take a 3:50 p.m. flight on Sunday from his hometown of Los Angeles to Wisconsin for a workout with the Green Bay Packers. That hit a snag when the team mixed up his itinerary.

Misfortune quickly [...]

FOXBORO — A free agent since mid-May, Devin Lucien was working out on his own waiting for another NFL opportunity when he suddenly found his services in high demand at the start of this week.

The Patriots' draft pick in 2016 was scheduled to take a 3:50 p.m. flight on Sunday from his hometown of Los Angeles to Wisconsin for a workout with the Green Bay Packers. That hit a snag when the team mixed up his itinerary.

Misfortune quickly turned to good fortune.

“It’s a funny story,” the receiver said on Friday.

While Lucien was trying to straighten things out at the airport, his agent was on the phone setting up a workout with Nick Caserio, the Patriots’ director of player personnel.

When Caserio found out about the travel turmoil, he offered Lucien a contract on the spot. Lucien immediately accepted, boarded a red-eye just before midnight and arrived in New England on Monday morning.

“So I got on the plane that same day when I was supposed to go to Green Bay and ended up flying to New England,” Lucien said. “It was a really crazy day.”

The whirlwind experience continued as Lucien passed the conditioning test on Wednesday and took part in the first practice of training camp on Thursday.

“You don’t dip your toe in the pool, you just jump right in,” Lucien said.

Now he’s back where it all began.

The Patriots drafted the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Lucien in the seventh round (225th overall) in 2016 following a breakout season as a graduate transfer at Arizona State following three so-so campaigns at UCLA.

Lucien spent his rookie season on the practice squad — which netted him a Super Bowl ring — and followed that with a strong showing at training camp last summer, highlighted by catching nine passes for 136 yards and a touchdown in the preseason.

Then Lucien suffered an injury that led to his being released in early September.

“It was very frustrating, but it’s been almost a year since that happened so I’m just trying to keep my head down, do what the coaches tell me to do,” Lucien said.

Lucien met a lot of coaches in between departing and returning to New England.

Armed pretty much with just a duffle bag, he spent time on the practice squads of the Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Houston Texans, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the next nine months before being waived by the Bucs on May 13.

Although his stints with each franchise were relatively brief, Lucien benefited from the varied experiences. It also gave him a greater appreciation for the year and a half he spent with the Patriots and the way they go about the business of winning.

“Being able to travel to different teams and different states I was able to grasp that,” Lucien said. “And that’s why it was such a blessing to get the call back here because I love the way things are run here. I know people kind of get scared away by the Patriot Way, but when it’s the first thing that you learn you kind of get accustomed to it … and that’s what I hopefully plan to do the rest of my career.”

Lucien retained his grasp of the playbook, which has helped accelerate his integration back into the team. He’s being brought along slowly on the field by the coaching staff after missing organized team activities and minicamp as he gets into “Patriot shape.”

As is the case at several positions, the competition is fierce, with 11 receivers vying for five or six spots. Lucien understands the long-shot numbers game he’s playing, but won’t let it affect his approach.

So he does “exactly” what coach Bill Belichick, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and receivers coach Chad O’Shea tell him to do and tries to be a “great guy to the teammates here” as he attempts to take full advantage of a second chance in New England.

“I had a solid camp last year and things didn’t go the way I really wanted them to,” Lucien said. “But, you know, Karma. I’m back here and I’m just hoping to make the best of this opportunity.”