It is one of the final steps in the getting-to-know you process between a team and a prospect: The private workout is one of the last chances an NFL team has to get familiar with a prospect before draft day.

By this time, scouting departments have had plenty of opportunities to familiarize themselves with a prospect. There’s an endless roll of college film, followed by various college football all-star games. Then, there are interviews at the Senior Bowl and the combine, as well as performance at the Pro Day. It all goes into a file on a potential draft pick that, at this point, is usually bursting with information.

But if you’re still not sure, teams can always take a private workout or meeting with a prospect. There are several different ways a team can go about this — and this could lead later to the final stage in the courtship process, an official visit to the team facility — but the private workout can often play a big role in evaluating whether or not a prospect is right for your system.

“A private workout is simply additional intel gathering, with the biggest focus on mental ability to grasp that particular team’s offense or defense,” said agent Jack Bechta, who also writes for the National Football Post. “Coaches are usually there to see how they would be able to work with the player.”

According to reports, the Patriots have been one of the most aggressive teams in the league this offseason when it comes to scheduling private workouts over the course of the last month or so. WEEI.com has learned that the Patriots have worked out or are planning on holding private workouts with more than a dozen players. (In addition, there are rumors about roughly a dozen more workouts, with updates coming in daily.)

So what happens when the Patriots decide to put a player through a private workout? According to multiple agents and players, during most private workouts, the Patriots rely heavily on film. Typically, they’ll spend the first part of the workout watching tape with a player, while quizzing them about what’s on the screen. Then, the player and the coaches will take them to the field to have them execute something they learned in the tape room. If a player is able to show an ability to bring those skills from the film room to the field while under the watchful eye of a New England coach, then, the Patriots know they really have something.

The film study was a formula that worked for New England last year: Patriots coach Bill Belichick has recounted his meeting with 2010 first-round pick Devin McCourty several times, where the two sat for a film session when the Patriots’ coach made a visit to Rutgers. Belichick was the only NFL head coach to conduct a film session with McCourty, and he later likened the Rutgers’ product to Ray Lewis, who also showed a remarkable ability to break down film as a collegian.

“McCourty was one for sure,” Belichick said of the list of players who have impressed him during film sessions before a draft. “Guys start telling you what the nose is supposed to do on a particular stunt when he’s playing corner and stuff like that. Usually you don’t get that.

“I’d say Devin was a guy, sitting down with him … and I know a little bit about that scheme from [Rutgers] coach [Greg] Schiano and what they do and so forth, so you kind of [say], ‘What’s this guy doing? What’s that guy doing?’ and kind of keep going and say, ‘Well, all right, so he understands what the linebackers are doing. He understands a couple adjustments. OK, now what about this?’”

Agent David Canter says that when it comes to evaluating a player at a private workout, the Patriots do two things better than anyone else.

“One, better than almost every team in football, they look at the totality of the player. What has he done? What’s his body of work? What will be bring to the table? What kind of leader is he?” Canter said. “They really do an incredible job of asking the questions that other teams might not.

“The second thing they do — better than anyone else, and they are the kings of this — is that there are no leaks. There are no loose ends in the building. That’s a testament to Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick. If you end up talking to the media — especially about something like this — you aren’t going to be working for them long. There are no ulterior motives there. Loose lips sink ships.”

“Nothing that goes on inside that war room is leaked out,” said one league source. “If they have a particular player who is rising up their boards internally, no one outside the building knows about it.”

That second trait helps keep other teams guessing, and adds to the occasional case of misdirection and gamesmanship that can arise as the result of a pre-draft private workout or meeting. That’s why so many people around the league weren’t surprised when the Patriots made a big show of taking Tim Tebow out to dinner in the North End last year as part of a pre-draft meeting. Were they genuinely interested in the Florida quarterback? Maybe. But chances are they were more interested in making the league wonder if New England would take Tebow.

Of course, occasionally, the media discovers information about a private workout. According to multiple agents, if the franchise feels like an agent or player is broadcasting the news that he has a workout upcoming with the Patriots, the team has been known to scrub the workout.

“I do think that they’ve been able to create a fear factor that they will not talk to you, and they will not do business with you if you kind of go outside what their preconceived lines are,” said one agent who has had several players selected by New England over the years. “But even with that said, I’ve had 10 to 15 guys on that team, and when you’ve had that many guys, they just make it so there’s are not a lot of opportunities for contact.”

But in the long run, the private workout is only a singular measure in the overall evaluation of a prospect. For the Patriots, when it comes to a private workout, the measureables are secondary. Canter uses the example of Brandon Spikes, who ran a slower-than-average 40 in the months leading up to the draft. However, via what the Patriots learned during the private workouts, that didn’t stop them from picking him up in the draft.

“Most people in the NFL would use that as an excuse to downgrade the possibility of drafting him. There’s just not that many linebackers who have run that slow who have been productive in the National Football League,” Canter said. “The Pats didn’t do that, and they got a phenomenal football player because they got a chance to talk to him during the private workouts.

“They value football skills over the BS that doesn’t mean anything.”