INDIANAPOLIS -- An almost mythic grandness characterizes discussions of New England nose guard/defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, whether as a person or a player.

Start with his heart. Yeah, sure, everybody wants to start with Wilfork’s Jupiter-like mass, but it’s a given we’ll get around to size when the subject stands 6-2 and weighs 325 (officially. Ahem). But we’ll start with his heart because, playing the key position when New England’s in a 3-4 defense, Wilfork’s the consensus pick by players as the heart and leader of the Patriots defense.

Family’s important to Wilfork. He lost a father to diabetes five months after his future Pro Bowler-packed 2001 University of Miami team won the national championship. His mother died not long after. Wilfork cleaves to family, not just his own with wife Bianca and their three kids. But when Myra Kraft, the late wife of Patriots owner Bob Kraft, died last year, Wilfork, who was close to Myra, became even closer to the widower soldiering on after a half-century of marriage.

“I think our relationship was more than football,” Wilfork said. “It was more personal. It was more family. Every time I saw her, we were always talking about doing something outside of football, whether it was something for the community, for the kids’ hospital, shelter homes or whatever.

“She had the biggest heart of us all,” Wilfork said. “I used to give her a kiss and Mr. Kraft a kiss before every game, so, now, Mr. Kraft gets two. I told him I’d never stop doing that because of what she meant in my life and the person she made me.”

According to NBC Sports NFL analyst and former player Rodney Harrison, Wilfork came to the NFL in 2004 unusually well grown.

“He’s the most mature rookie that I’ve ever experienced,” Harrison said. “When the other guys were off playing video games, checkers and dominoes, he was out lifting weights, reading his playbook, studying. It takes a very mature person to come to have the riches and have all these things.”

Wilfork’s good works around the Boston area are well known. The Vince Wilfork Foundation’s draft party has become a major annual event in raising money for diabetes research.

“His presence is tremendous around the franchise,” said NBC Sports NFL analyst Rodney Harrison, a former New England safety. “They love doing things around the community. They’ve been very fortunate. He’s gone through some bad times, but he’s been fortunate. He’s worked his butt off to get a big contract. And he wants to help as many people as possible.”

Now, let’s go to Wilfork’s athleticism.

“I made a big mistake his rookie year, when I made a bet with the team about a night off or not giving them a night off,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “I put Vince back there to catch a punt. He has soft hands and you can hear the ball hit his hands.”

Wilfork said, “Bill did that a couple of times. I think it took him until year four to figure out that I wasn’t going to drop any. By that time, he had me catching the ball, but I had three other balls in my hands already, so there were four balls I had to handle to give my teammates a night off. So, I never dropped one.”