Martellus Bennett Would Like You To Pronounce His Name Correctly ... But Maybe Not

BOSTON (CBS) -- Martellus Bennett figures to be an important player in the Patriots' offense in 2016.

In that endeavor, he got off to a promising start, catching three passes for 33 yards in his preseason debut in a Patriots uniform.

After the game -- a 34-22 win for New England over the New Orleans Saints -- Bennett was asked what it was like playing in front of his new fan base. A potential problem arose.

"It was pretty cool," Bennett said at his locker. "I mean, it's preseason. I know it's hard for fans to get riled up for these games. I mean, the fans are nice. They're nice people. They say my name -- a lot of people say it wrong, but that's cool."

When asked how they're mispronouncing the name, Bennett said that people are saying "MART-uh-less."

Bennett said he tells these people to just call him Marty, but then on second thought he wasn't so sure he wants to offer a correction.

"I was like, 'Just call me Marty.' Mart-uh-less just sounds like a Greek god though, which is great," Bennett said. "It's like, 'Here comes Mart-uh-less!' It's like Mart-uh-less vs. Hercules. But yeah, it sounds good too, so, I don't know. It's fine."

Bennett made it clear that his name issues go back quite a long way.

"Marty works just perfectly fine," he said. "It's five letters, easy to spell. I couldn't spell my name until I was like 12 because it had nine letters in it. Thanks, Mom and Dad."