FOXBORO — Those around Danny Amendola wondered how much more he could take.

Offseason surgeries on his ankle and knee left him hobbled. After missing every single offseason practice, the wide receiver didn’t feel the same physically. When he returned, his playing time was spotty and production was slim.

At this point, there was a chance that the 2016 NFL season was Amendola’s last.

“Coming off with the surgeries with his knees and his ankles, it was a matter of ‘how much more of this can I do and still perform at a high level?’” said the receiver’s father, Willie Amendola. “Those kind of questions always cross your mind.”

The receiver entered this offseason unsure of what would be next, but his choices were clear. He could either retire or work harder to get himself ready for his ninth NFL season. Amendola is used to fighting through the pain. This offseason, he fought in spite of it.

“It’s the only thing I know,” Amendola said.

The receiver traveled around the country to get ready for the 2017 season. The work has paid dividends. After catching 23 passes for 243 yards in 12 games last season, the receiver has surpassed his numbers in five games this year (26 receptions for 307 yards).

The production isn’t a surprise to those who’ve seen Amendola’s work up close.

“He has always been consistent and he is so mentally and physically tough,” Tom Brady told The Providence Journal. “He has earned everything he has gotten.”

No offseason

Amendola can’t settle down. After last season ended, with another Super Bowl championship, the receiver took weeks off before he resumed training. That’s when his journey started. He lifted weights in Austin, Texas, worked up a sweat in Carson, Calif., and caught passes from Brady in Big Sky, Mont.

“I want to get better. No matter really when or what time of year it is,” Amendola said. “I’m always thinking about football around the clock. I’m always trying to get better every day. It sounds cliché, but that’s the bottom line.”

When he was in Montana, Amendola also put on a show at The Pitt Training Facility. In the middle of July, he and Julian Edelman trained with their former Patriots teammate Dane Fletcher, at his facility in Bozeman. During their first afternoon, Fletcher had a workout planned for his group — made up of mostly younger local college players.

They did footwork drills, plyometrics and box jumps before hitting the weights. Amendola didn’t hesitate.

“He competed with these kids who are 19-years-old, 20-years-old and really put it to everybody, really,” Fletcher said. “It would be drills that he wasn’t familiar with and he just wasn’t afraid to take it head on and just go and just do it… I think you get to that level and it’s easy for some of these guys to be, ‘no, I’m not doing that.’ He hopped it and kicked everybody’s ass.”

When the conditioning was over, Amendola wowed his workout partners with the amount of weight he was able to squat. Fletcher made sure to pull over some of his promising players and make sure they watched the way Amendola worked.

“I was like, ‘pay attention to how this guy trains,’” Fletcher said. “He works, man. Every day. it doesn’t matter — at practice or watching film. The kid is smart and is not afraid to just hop into anything and work.”

It was similar with Jimmy Garoppolo in California. When the rookie entered the NFL, he met Amendola in Carson. There at the Stubhub Center, a group of two dozen players get together to train in February, March and April. The young quarterback still goes there every offseason and works out with Amendola and Edelman.

“I thought I worked hard in college, but then you see these guys, a couple weeks a month after their season just ended and they’re busting their ass out there,” Garoppolo said. “That really helped me as a young guy, you see that and this is what it takes.”

Playing hurt

Teammates and coaches love Amendola. It’s easy to see why. He plays hurt and always plays hard. He also steps up when it matters most.

In 2014, after catching 200 yards in 16 games, Amendola caught 11 passes for 137 yards in the playoffs. Last season, it was similar, but Amendola fought through more than teammates ever realized. Even when he’s hurt, those around him don’t always notice.

“Danny’s a little different,” Garoppolo said. “Even when he is hurt or banged up, you can never really tell. He goes out there and if he had a banged up knee, banged up back whatever it is, you can never really tell when he’s running routes. In the offseason, he’s always looking good.”

Last year, Amendola missed the final month of the season after suffering an ankle injury. But the receiver pushed forward, hoping to get a chance to help his team.

That year, Amendola never caught more than 48 yards in a single game. In the playoffs, he was barely a factor, but then Super Bowl LI came. He finished with eight catches for 78 yards, a touchdown and two-point conversion in the win.

“I knew, honestly, that we had a chance to play into the postseason,” Amendola said. “To be healthy then and available was a goal of mine when I was not playing. That was motivation in whatever I did off the field to try and get better.”

Amendola was always a grinder. That comes from his upbringing in The Woodlands, Texas. Since his father was a high school coach, there was always a weight room set up in their garage. Amendola learned from his father and older brother, Matt Amendola, who played at Baylor, what hard work truly meant.

Playing through injury or stepping up in big moments became second nature.

“The one thing he always does is grind,” Willie Amendola said. “That’s something he takes pride in. It’s something he’s always done and something coach [Bill] Belichick has always preached. He buys into that a little better than most. It’s the way he thinks. It’s the way he was raised.”

Career year

After playing through the pain and putting in the work this offseason, Amendola is having one of his best seasons.

With Edelman out, Amendola has a larger role in the offense. He's currently on pace for a career-high 819 receiving yards and 69 receptions. The numbers don’t surprise Brady. The quarterback saw his receiver’s work ethic up close in Montana. That continued this fall.

“Danny comes ready to work every day and gives every single bit of himself whether it’s an offseason workout or a Sunday in the fall,” Brady said. “He loves the game. And he is such a naturally gifted athlete. He’s really an incredible player.”

Amendola’s play this season has also caused his coaches to gush.

“There’s nothing I don’t love about Danny Amendola,” Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said this season. “Every time he’s out there, you feel good about what may happen if the ball is headed towards him, and he always comes up big in the biggest moments or biggest games.”

Added Bill Belichick: “He's one of our best and most dependable players.”

After what he went through last season, Amendola feels good about his performance, but he’s not satisfied. The truth is, he rarely is. Whether he’s injured or healthy, starting or sitting, this receiver only knows how to push forward.

“Well, I feel like I can get better. I don’t think I’ve played my best football yet,” Amendola said. “Regardless of what’s happened in the past, I still think I can play good football and get better.”