FOXBORO — On NFL cutdown day, no news is good news for roster hopefuls like Dell Pettus.

Pettus, an undrafted rookie safety out of Troy, found out he’d made the Patriots’ initial 53-man roster when … well, no one told him that he hadn’t.

“I didn’t get a phone call,” a smiling Pettus said before Wednesday’s practice. “I just knew the deadline was 4 p.m. (Tuesday), and I didn’t get a phone call. 4 p.m. hit, I kind of just sat around and looked, like, ‘What’s going on?’ I got a call from Brenden Schooler and somebody else who went through this process, and we talked on the phone. I was like, ‘I didn’t get a call.’ He’s like, ‘Then you’re good, man.’”

Schooler, New England’s standout special teamer, sweated out the same interminable wait in 2022 before learning he’d cracked the roster as an undrafted rookie. No UDFAs made the cut last summer, ending the franchise’s 19-year streak with at least one on the Week 1 roster.

Pettus was the only Patriots UDFA to survive this year’s roster cutdown. After flashing playmaking ability and sure tackling during training camp and the preseason, he’ll provide depth in a veteran-laden position group alongside Jabrill Peppers, Kyle Dugger, Jaylinn Hawkins and Schooler. (Second-year pro Marte Mapu will begin the season on injured reserve and can return in Week 5.)

“I don’t know how to put it into words,” said Pettus, who spent much of Tuesday playing “College Football 25” to distract himself. “I’m not really a talkative person in that way. But just having that moment for me and knowing that my dreams are starting to come to reality, I didn’t know what to do other than to thank God.”

“Starting to” is the key phrase there. Still miffed that he wasn’t among the 257 players drafted after a college career that included 61 consecutive starts, Pettus said he’s not satisfied with just making an NFL roster.

“Honestly, I was pissed off because I felt like I should have been selected higher, or just selected in general,” the 23-year-old said. “But God has a plan for everybody, and I just kept that chip on my shoulder that I felt like I was slighted. And honestly, that chip isn’t gone, because I’m here, I’ve got my foot in the door, but I’m not finished. I feel that wholeheartedly. I’ve got a lot of goals for myself. I’ve got a lot of ambition and drive, and I’m going to take it day by day and continue to show everybody why I’m supposed to be here.”

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He’s made a strong impression so far. During the leadup to final cuts, head coach Jerod Mayo said Pettus was doing a “fantastic job.” Peppers, one of the leaders of New England’s defense, raved about the rookie on Wednesday.

“He’s just constant improvement every day,” Peppers said. “Ability to apply the classroom to the field, ask the right questions, aggressive, shows he’s instinctive, tough. He’s just really coachable, man. He doesn’t really make the same mistakes twice. He asks a lot of questions, and he just did a real good job of buying into the standard in that safety room. … Then you add in the ability to play special teams — I think he had a couple special teams tackles (in the preseason) — and that’s value. I was definitely happy for him.”

The Patriots’ entire eight-player draft class also made the initial 53 — and through the second round of cuts that came after New England claimed four players off post-cutdown waivers. That hadn’t happened since the late 1990s.

“I really wasn’t surprised by it,” sixth-round cornerback Marcellas Dial said, “because I feel like this rookie class is a class full of ballers.”