We know football players are tough. Sometimes, they’re insanely tough. Consider Patriots linebacker Dont’a Hightower, who played the final month of the regular season and playoffs with a torn right labrum.

As such, he played in pain, with just one fully functional arm through the most pivotal games of the season, and still made what amounted to a touchdown-saving tackle on Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch near the goal line in the final minute of the Super Bowl.

And you know what? He’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.

“I’ll take a torn shoulder any day to get a Super Bowl ring,” Hightower told the Herald yesterday from his Tennessee home.

Hightower was thrust into a more prominent role as the signal caller of the defense when fellow linebacker Jerod Mayo went down to a season-ending injury Week 6. Not everyone can handle the job of setting the defense, and making changes on the fly depending on cues from the opponent. In fact, in 2013 Hightower didn’t cope with the duties quite as well when Mayo was injured, but this time, he rose to the challenge, finally blossoming into the player most expected when he was taken in the first round of the 2012 draft.

Of course, Hightower could have shut it down, but opted to gut it out.

“I knew my teammates needed me. I know it’s so cliche. But everybody out there was hurtin’,” he said. “There’s a lot of guys out there that was banged up. That’s part of football. It’s just a matter of what you do when you’re challenged with adversity. Unfortunately, I was challenged with a torn labrum late in the season but I was able to fight through it.

“I wasn’t going to be told that I couldn’t play. I wasn’t going to have any excuses for not playing well. So, I had a job to do, and went out and got it done.”

Hightower underwent surgery Feb. 6 and indicated the rehab process is going well. The recovery time is typically 6-7 months, so he’s likely to miss some training camp. As for the start of the regular season, he’s hoping to get the green light.

“Right now, I’m doing well. The doc likes everything he’s seen. I just had my checkup. I’m right on track, if not better,” he said. “I’m not sure what I’m going to be able to do as far as OTAs and training camp and all that other stuff goes. But I’m looking forward to being back.”

Even with all the departures on defense, Hightower said he is confident about next season. He believes the desire will be just as strong to win another championship.

“I don’t even think it has to do with us winning the Super Bowl (last season). Bill (Belichick) drafts guys, and gets guys in who know how to compete and want to win,” Hightower said. “It’s easy for guys to go out there, get a check and go home. But we don’t spend all the extra time, away from our families, and our friends, to not wanna win and not wanna be the best. I just feel like anybody that comes to the Patriots knows what we’re about, knows we’re going to put in the extra time, so at the end of the day, we’re ready for anything.”

Hightower, however, won’t pull your leg and say it’s going to be easier without Darrelle Revis, Vince Wilfork and Brandon Browner. But he believes in the system and the remaining players.

“I just think the whole mantra of the ‘next man up’ is definitely going to have to be a variable. Vince is obviously a big anchor in the middle of the defense and a leader on the team. There’s younger guys that are going to have to step up,” he said. “For me, I’m going to have to step up. Chandler (Jones) is going to have to step up. We have a lot of good young players who can step up, not in (Wilfork’s) place, but who can be a leader. Not necessarily a vocal leader, but just do their job.

“Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler are two examples of that. They don’t really talk a lot, but when push comes to shove, those are two guys you can depend on.”

That’s certainly what Hightower became last season — someone Belichick could depend on.

And now, Hightower is even getting more heavily involved with community work. He’ll be headlining a football camp at UMass-Lowell July 12-15.

Hightower is living proof of an important message for kids — and we’re not talking about playing hurt. He struggled mightily his first two years finding his niche in Belichick’s defense. But he persevered.

“I went through a lot in my first few seasons from guys in the media, and fans thinking I was a wasted pick, or a bust. I went through a hard time. A lot of guys do,” he said. “Some guys give up. Some guys keep fighting.

“I have great support base around me. . . . I knew what I had to do to overcome (the doubters).”

Helping win a Super Bowl, with a torn labrum, accomplished the mission.