On any good team there are often players that get overlooked and are even underappreciated to some degree.

Boston is an extremely vibrant and relevant sports town so there are plenty of players who could fall into this category today. That was the center of discussion on Boston Sports Tonight earlier this week on NBC Sports Boston. They tried to figure out who was the most underappreciated figure in town out of the four major teams.

Names like Xander Bogearts of the Red Sox, Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron and Celtics big man Al Horford were all thrown out there as great players, who seem to lose some of the limelight due to other stars on their respective teams.

As it relates to the Patriots, safety Devin McCourty, special teamer Matthew Slater and pass rusher Trey Flowers were all mentioned, but if we were to make the case for any player in New England currently that is underappreciated it must be linebacker Dont'a Hightower.

Let us count the ways.

Hightower has been part of the backbone of New England's defense since the Pats drafted the Alabama product in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft. The biggest knock on Hightower hasn't really been his play, rather it's his ability to stay on the field as he's only played in all 16 regular season games just once in his career.

Most notably last season Hightower's campaign was cut short due to a torn pectoral muscle.

Outside of that, the linebacker has had one heck of a Patriots career. You could even make the argument that he's one of the more clutch players to roll through Foxboro in quite some time as he owns two of the most underrated plays in team history.

The only reason Malcolm Butler was able to make his historic goal line interception off Russell Wilson to clinch New England Super Bowl XLIX is because Hightower was able to stop the bowling ball that is Marshawn Lynch at the 1-yard line. He did that while playing with a shoulder injury.

Fast forward just a few years later and it was Hightower again making one of the more pivotal plays in Patriots history. With 8:35 remaining in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI and the Patriots trailing the Falcons 28-12, Hightower was able to strip sack Matt Ryan giving New England the ball just outside the red zone.

That turnover was able to spark the Patriots epic 25 point comeback giving them their fifth title in franchise history.

Still, most remember the comeback in general, Julian Edelman's shoe string catch or James White's game-winning touchdowns, so Hightower's strip sack does get lost in the shuffle to a degree.

He's one of the more versatile players to stroll through Foxboro with his ability to play both as a true middle linebacker and come off the edge, while also having the knack for the clutch plays on the biggest of stages.

Underappreciated may be the wrong word. Underrated seems more fitting in Hightower's case.

He's an all-time Patriot, who is directly responsible for not one, but two Super Bowl titles.