BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- The combines. The never-ending string of mock drafts and trade rumors. The three days of breathless coverage on ESPN and the NFL Network. Even Mel Kiper Jr. himself.
What if we told you none of that mattered?
Super Bowl LII is proof that the NFL Draft isn't the only way that a championship-caliber team can stock its roster, a timely reminder for the Giants and Jets as they hope high picks this season will revive their franchises. Twenty-seven players on the New England and Philadelphia rosters -- nearly a quarter of all the players in Sunday's game -- went undrafted.
That includes a whopping 18 from the Patriots alone. Bill Belichick rightly will be celebrated as the greatest coach in football history if he holds up the Lombardi Trophy for a record sixth time, but his acumen as a personnel guru might be just as important.
Belichick has filled his roster with players that other organizations cast aside or passed over completely, often at the expense of players he picked himself in the draft. He doesn't care how a player arrives in New England, just how he performs when he does.
"The draft is obviously important," Patriots center David Andrews said this week. "Guys (get picked) for a reason. But I think there are a lot of good football players out there who might not run fast or jump high or have 50-inch arms and a 6-foot-8 frame."
Andrews is one of them. He spent Day 1 of the 2015 NFL Draft hanging out at a lake near his Georgia home, certain that he wasn't going to get a call. He watched the final day with his family, but when his named never popped on the screen, he wasn't surprised.
He said the aftermath was "like cramming two years of college recruiting into 15 minutes." Signing as a rookie free agent with the Patriots was an easy decision because A) Belichick was the only head coach who flew to Georgia to work him out and B) he was well aware of his reputation for giving undrafted players equal treatment.
Now Andrews is a captain on a Super Bowl team. He'll be on an offense that features two undrafted wide receivers -- quarterback Tom Brady's favorite target, Danny Amendola, and former college lacrosse player Chris Hogan -- and backup running back Brandon Bolden.
The defense is just as loaded with undrafted contributors. Linebacker James Harrison was an NFL star long before he arrived in New England after the Steelers let him go, but cornerback Malcolm Butler is a homegrown Patriot. He made one of the biggest interceptions in Super Bowl history, the goal-line interception to stun the Seattle Seahawks in 2015.
"Undrafted guys have a chip on their shoulder," Butler said. "They're motivated. Nothing was given to them. They don't have no kind of hype. Everything they get, they've earned. There's just something about undrafted guys, man. They're just something about them."
The Eagles aren't quite as loaded with undrafted stars, but their roster includes running back LeGarrette Blount -- who won a championship with the Patriots last season -- and Glassboro native Corey Clement, who could play a huge role in the team's passing game out of the backfield. Tight end Trey Burton was fourth on the team in touchdown catches.
All of them watched and waited during draft, to no avail.
"I watched the whole thing hoping that I'd get a call from some team," defensive end Adam Butler said. "I remember wearing a Tennessee Titans shirt, hoping that the Titans would pick me up or something because I had just gone to one of their camps. I was hoping they'd pick me up."
When the draft ended last spring without his name getting called, the former Vanderbilt player remembered what a teammate at told him: "The Patriots don't care. They just want guys that can perform." He picked them over several other offers for that reason.
Now, along with 26 other players on Sunday, he's proof that the NFL Draft -- despite all the endless speculation and breathless coverage -- isn't the only path to glory. Nobody tell Mel Kiper Jr.
Steve Politi may be reached at spoliti@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevePoliti. Find NJ.com on Facebook.