It should come as no surprise anymore to find the boarding a plane this weekend and heading to yet another Super Bowl. This is what they do. And this is how they do it. Once again, Bill Belichick and his underlings have proven they are smarter than just about everyone else in the NFL. And in a sport where there are caps on pretty much everything -- how much you can spend, where you can draft, who you must play -- having an overabundance of football intellect, in comparison to much of the rest of the league, cannot be overstated. Sure, remains a constant, and he alone gives the Patriots a shot at being competitive year in and year out. But once again the cast around him is vastly changed from the last time New England played for a Lombardi Trophy, just two years ago, with the Patriots roster in perpetual motion. More on Super Bowl LI What's proven to be equally important to New England's dominance is that the other elements of this dynasty besides Belichick and Brady - Curtis McElhinney Men Jersey - owner Robert Kraft, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels (a Patriot since 2001, save for three seasons), Belichick's trusted a sistant Ernie Adams (with Belichick forever), personnel man Nick Caserio (a Patriot since 2001), defensive coordinator Matt Patricia (a Patriot since 2004) -- remain in place as well, with the collective New England brain trust as robust as ever and continuing to find treasure in other, le ser team's trash. On paper, and considering 's long-term absence due to injury, it's hard to say that their active roster is the most naturally talented in the NFL as currently constructed, yet true to form it is brilliant in that Belichick has once again found players who may be limited in their overall skill set yet can excel in specific, sometimes narrow, roles for him. That, once again, makes this unit, collectively, the best in football. Compared to even their last Super Bowl team, from the 2014 season, that star power is limited. That team had a healthy and in-form Gronk, Hall of Fame corner in the secondary, stalwart defensive tackle , talented edge rusher and do-everything linebacker . And in that season, either through trade or free agent signing, Belichick buttre sed his core with productive role players like , , , Tim Wright, , and . Two years later, only Blount and Branch remain from that group, with Belichick retooling this year's group with a new set of bargain-basement players others had discarded. In 2014, Belichick shocked some in the league by trading , his long-time best offensive lineman, to Tampa for Wright and Joonas Korpisalo Jersey a draft pick. In 2016, he shook up the team by dealing Jones, super talented but displaying occasionally bizarre behavior and someone who would be demanding more on the open market than New England would pay, before the season. SportsLine Alexander Wennberg Jersey Then he doubled down midseason, shipping Collins, who the team believed was not playing up to his reputation, to the Browns for just a third-round compensatory pick; Collins got his $50 million deal in Cleveland, and the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl again, for the seventh time since Belichick arrived in 2000. It is that constant culling of the waiver wire and le ser commodities that continues to fortify this franchise. Comparing the flip chart from Super Bowl XLIX, when New England beat Seattle in the dying seconds, to the Patriots' is almost like two different teams. The only players in the same starting spots on this depth chart as that one are Brady, receiver , left tackle , linebackers and , and safeties and . That's it. Three starters on offense (including an almost completely reshuffled offensive line). Four starters on defense. This doesn't happen by accident. This time around, Belichick pounced again on former high picks on defense who other teams viewed as busts or failures to develop, and/or thought they were not worth what their contracts stipulated they were owed. When most of the league chased their own tails, throwing around hundreds of millions of dollars on largely pedestrian players when the free-agent floodgates opened at the start of the league year, New England did almost nothing early last March. The Patriots signed receiver as a restricted free agent (they utilize that under-appreciated free agent designation as well as any club), with the Bills spending oodles of money foolishly elsewhere and not tendering him at a second-round level; Hogan became a legit deep threat in New England and had a monster AFC Championship Game. That was literally it for their activity during the first phase of free agency. Then the Patriots traded for , losing just a fourth-round pick, and the former Bear returned them to their two-tight end prowe s and then became even more vital as Gronk was lost for the season to another surgery. They also signed linebackers (a former Bears first-rounder) and (former Rams first-rounder) to team-friendly, no-risk deals later in March. In mid-April, with the market dormant, they re-signed Blount on the cheap, again, and he went on to set a touchdown record for them. New England acquired recent Browns top pick and recent Eagles second-rounder for almost nothing in trades just before the season; both became contributing depth players. And then, with Belichick frustrated with Collins and le sening his playing time and with his ouster forthcoming, they dealt for recent Lions second-round pick , who provided key depth at linebacker. "Nobody is better at that than Bill," said one long-time NFL personnel executive. "He has the perfect mind for seeing these fits and finding value in a player who has fallen out of Anthony Duclair Women Jersey favor. Look at Rowe. He's not quite a corner, not quite a safety, but he's a helluva a set if you figure out how to use him. He's kind of like the perfect Patriot. Those are the guys that Bill finds." If it seems reminiscent of the roster buttre sing and ma saging that went on the last time the Patriots made it this far, that's because it is. Markus Hannikainen Women Jersey The fact that only one of the above mentioned teams reached the postseason, and most of them came nowhere close -- well, make of that what you will. Besides these acquisitions, Belichick overhauled the offensive line by finding gems in the college ranks: (un-drafted in 2015), who many teams had as a medical reject, and (fourth round in 2015), who wasn't invited to the combine. The defensive front, which was a weak spot in that last Super Bowl team, has been strengthened by Branch taking on an even bigger role this season. Former first-round pick has come into his own, as has former undrafted free agent , who went from unknown hero of their last Super Bowl to one of the best corners in the NFL, replacing none other than Revis from their last Lombardi team. Belichick has done it again, and he's still far from done. Brady may be approaching 40, but he had another MVP season. If anything the pa s protection is much improved from a year ago (credit the return of Dante Scarnecchia to coach the offensive line f