FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Rob Ninkovich has never liked to talk about himself. But there he was last Wednesday, standing in the New England Patriots locker room and being asked questions about his consecutive games streak.

He wasn’t supposed to play in last Sunday’s regular-season finale in Miami. He was supposed to stay back in New England to rest a shin injury. Yet, there he was, lining up at defensive end, extending his streak to 114 games, including playoffs. He hasn’t missed a game for the Patriots since Nov. 12, 2009.

“Durability is more important than ability in this league,” said Patriots Coach Bill Belichick. “And not only has he not missed a game, he’s barely missed a practice.”

Ninkovich, 31, doesn’t think he’s doing anything special.

“I try my best every year to obviously take care of my body and do whatever it takes to help the team win,” he said. “Consecutive games? Early in my career I couldn’t stay on the field for consecutive games. It’s just taking pride in the fact that I try to be there every game so I can be reliable and go out and do my job.”

He’s done more than that. Since he joined the Patriots on Aug. 2, 2009 – as a free agent after he was cut for the fourth time – Ninkovich has become one of the team’s best defensive players. He’s not flashy, but he makes big plays, leading the NFL in fumble recoveries over the last six seasons with 14. Over that time he also has 41 sacks, five interceptions and nine forced fumbles.

He has played inside linebacker, outside linebacker and defensive end, showing an ability to not only drop back in pass coverage but to set the edge on the defensive line when he takes on much bigger blockers. He’s also been one of the Patriots’ leading special teams players over the years.

His success has been bitter for the New Orleans Saints, who drafted him in the fifth round in 2006, then cut him twice. In his season-ending press conference last week, Saints Coach Sean Payton said Ninkovich is at the top of his list of players who got away.

“There are still regrets every time I see Ninkovich line up and sack somebody for New England,” he said.

But you could understand why the Saints cut Ninkovich. He tore an ACL in the third game of his rookie season, setting in place a revolving door between New Orleans and Miami. He was cut four times and played in only eight games through 2008. Then the Saints attempted to make him a long snapper before eventually cutting him during training camp in 2009.

Those early cuts provided fuel for Ninkovich.

“I think about it all the time,” he said. “Just understanding that I knew I had the ability to play at a high level and really not taking anyone else’s opinion and understanding that all I needed was an opportunity to play well and have a chance to be in the NFL.”

He also learned how precious his job was. “I learned not to take one day for granted,” he said. “Every practice, every OTA, every one thing that comes with football can be gone on one play.”

With the Patriots, he first became a core special teams player, and then a starter in 2010. He hasn’t been out of the lineup since and has earned a comparison from Belichick to Mike Vrabel, who played outside linebacker/defensive end while also lining up occasionally as a tight end.

“Rob has been a really versatile guy for us,” said Belichick. “He’s played kind of like Vrabel … He did a lot of things like Mike did that you need somebody to do on your defense somewhere along the line, because of the different offenses we face and some of the different schemes we use.

“You can’t move 11 guys around, but sometimes you can move one or two and create that. That’s important.”

The Patriots were a little more careful with Ninkovich this year. His number of defensive snaps (891, or 81.4 percent) was the lowest in four years. According to Football Outsiders, he was in on 93.6 percent of defensive snaps (1,021) in 2014, 95.5 percent (1,097) in 2013 and 82.9 percent (906) in 2012.

Asked if it saved wear and tear on his body, Ninkovich replied, “What’s wear and tear?”

Snap counts, he said, don’t matter. “Any time I’m on the field, I’m trying my best. This year, last year, the year before, it doesn’t matter. I’m just focusing on what I’m doing on the field.”

This past week was entirely about getting ready for the AFC divisional round game.

“Really, it’s a one-game season,” said Ninkovich. “So everything you have, you’ve got to put it into the next game you play.”