FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Rob Ninkovich has settled into a starting defensive end role in his fourth season with the Patriots, and become a pivotal piece to the team's defensive front.

But being firmly entrenched with a team on the day in which final cuts are to be made hasn't always been familiar territory for the 28-year old, who has experienced the disappointment of being released at this juncture of the preseason previously.

"I've been there a few times, I've been cut," he said on Friday, hours before the team is set to release a number of players in order to finalize the 53-man roster. "You tell those guys just keeping working hard. It's all about opportunity, so the next time you get your opportunity, just make the best of it."

Although difficult to endure, Ninkovich says that he has used being released as motivation.

"It's tough. I'm not going to lie and not say that every time I've been cut it hurts, it definitely does," he continued. "What you do is try to take that as motivation, the next time you have a chance to not make them decide to release you. So it's always an opportunity, the next time you get a new chance."

He's learned through his career that it's never safe to become comfortable in the NFL, which, Ninkovich noted, also aptly stands for Not For Long.

"You can't get comfortable. When you get comfortable, you don't have your best performance on the field, so you always have to be on edge, I guess."

The player who is likely to start on the opposite side of the line from Ninkovich, first-round defensive end Chandler Jones, is also not in any danger of being released, but understands that today is a difficult one for many other players around the league.

Jones says that he will encourage those who are released to stay positive and continue to pursue their goal of playing football professionally.

"Just being encouraging. Just trying to be a leader and saying 'No matter what happens, there will always be a place for you somewhere else. Don't give up on your dreams.,'" he said. "That's the biggest thing that we can do."