FOXBOROUGH -- When Dont’a Hightower takes the field Sunday for New England’s regular-season wrap-up against the Jets, he will have played in his 15th game this year.

It will be only the second time Hightower has managed that feat.

Due to a variety of ailments and injuries, the 28-year-old linebacker routinely misses three to four games each year. Last season, he was sidelined from Week 6 on because of a torn pectoral muscle. In response, he exchanged his traditional workout regimen for a new plan focused on recovery and small muscle groups.

Seven hundred and twenty-six defensive snaps later, his most since 2014, the results have been undeniable.

“That’s literally been been my story. Having been doing the heavy weights, the heavy squats stuff, I’ve been doing a lot more core, a lot more function and flexion movement stuff," he said Friday. “I feel like that’s definitely kind of helped me out. I’ve still kept my power and stayed lean.”

When Hightower first sat down with Bill Belichick during a pre-draft meeting in 2012, he impressed Belichick immediately with his grasp of Alabama’s defense.

“I remember they had a lot of guys in that room, but clearly he had great understanding of everything,” Belichick remembered Friday. “He was involved in coverage, involved in pass rush and that system involves a lot. There’s a lot of line call communication, there’s a lot of coverage adjustments, and he’s good at all of those. I mean, it’s hard to do those at one position. He did it in multiple positions and multiple personnel groups.”

Unlike his health, Hightower’s mental acuity has remained a constant strength of the linebacker’s game. Mastering New England’s system was his ticket to seeing significant time as a rookie, even as a high-round pick. And he knew it.

“The easiest way for me to get on the field was just kind of to learn the playbook and that’s what I did," Hightower said. "First year I played inside (linebacker), then the years after that I was kind of able to do a little bit more because I knew the playbook so that definitely sparked and helped a lot of that. Being able to learn the playbook quicker than most.”

As the Patriots have transitioned under new de factor defensive coordinator Brian Flores, who’s commanded a tweaked defense, Hightower’s role has changed slightly. He’s not the Swiss Army Knife he was for the Crimson Tide, but depending on the defensive package, he’ll still align on the edge or as a stand-up linebacker; similar roles he played under previous defensive coordinator Matt Patricia.

Said Hightower: "To you it might look a little to different. To me, it’s the same with a little twist.”

And as his physical skills begin to diminish, as they do for all players, Hightower’s instincts and playbook command continue to help him make up the ground he once covered naturally. He nabbed the first regular-season interception of his career in Week 6 and totaled more TFLs this season than any other since 2015.

The changes in the gym, it seems, have allowed him to remain the same old Hightower.