SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Hunter Henry experienced the last hopeful days of the Bill Belichick era, the multi-year crash that followed and the Patriots’ rebirth under Mike Vrabel.

Now, as he prepares to play in his first Super Bowl this Sunday at Levi’s Stadium, one of New England’s longest-tenured players is thankful for it all.

“Man, I honestly wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Henry, the Patriots’ reliable tight end and co-captain, said Thursday at the team’s Super Bowl LX hotel. “I’ve enjoyed my time here so much. It’s been a very special place. I really felt like I wanted to be here. Obviously, we started out great at the start — it felt like we were building something good — and then we hit a lull there and had a few down years that were rough and hard to go through.

“But I feel like I’m able to appreciate this a little bit more (after) going through those hard times and being able to build things the right way. How special it is to be here is pretty awesome.”

Henry is one of just 15 players on the Patriots’ current roster who played under Belichick, who was fired after the 2023 season, and one of six who were part of New England’s last playoff team in 2021.

When Vrabel overhauled the team’s leadership group, Henry was the only Patriots captain who was not cut, traded or allowed to leave in free agency. Only 2020 draftees Anfernee Jennings and Mike Onwenu have been with the franchise for longer than the 31-year-old veteran.

This Super Bowl run — which culminates in a matchup with the favored Seattle Seahawks — has carried extra meaning for those longtime Patriots who lived through the team’s three consecutive sub-.500 seasons, including back-to-back 4-13 disasters under Belichick and Jerod Mayo. When did Henry know this season would be different?

“During training camp, I definitely saw some potential for us,” he said. “You don’t know that full potential. This league is hard. It’s kind of an unforgiving league, and you have to go earn it and give everything every single day. I don’t know if there’s a single moment, but I think obviously during the season, going into Buffalo (in Week 5) and getting that win — we’re a pretty confident team. We’ve always been confident, and we’ve got a lot of confident guys, but that was kind of a coming-together moment for us. To put that on display in front of the world in a big-time environment, I think we were like, ‘All right, we’ve got something here.’”

The Patriots have lost just once since that last-second win on “Sunday Night Football,” entering Super Bowl LX with wins in 16 of their last 17 games.

Henry played a key role in that turnaround, catching 60 passes for a career-high 768 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns this season as one of quarterback Drake Maye’s top targets.