Faulk, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 2 of the 2010 season, began the 2011 season the physically unable to perform list. He played in seven games last season, but did not play in the AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl XLVI.

“Stress, not playing as much as I did before last year, not dressing in the Super Bowl, that weighed into [asking] ‘is it time for you to let it go?’” Faulk explained. “But in [my] mind I still knew that I could play the game of football. Coming back last year, I don’t think it was me physically playing the game, I think it was more so mentally.

"If you’ve been playing the game as long as I’ve been playing, at the same speed, for the New England Patriots, everything has to be perfect, you have to be perfect,” Faulk continued. “And last year didn’t feel that way to me at all, until towards the end of the season, but at that point in time, it was too late, because our team was already developed. So in order to sit back and watch your guys perform, and play each and every week, that was a hard thing for me to swallow.”