SAN JOSE — The 90 players who arrived to Patriots training camp on July 30 had dreams of playing in Super Bowl 50.

Only one of them made it — and took quite a circuitous route to get there.

The lucky survivor was Panthers cornerback Robert McClain, a six-year NFL veteran who thought he’d be with the Patriots this season after signing a one-year deal worth $300,000 guaranteed and a maximum of $2 million last offseason.

But the Patriots surprisingly cut him at the end of training camp. McClain returned home to Atlanta to stay in shape and hope for a phone call from any team. After nine workouts and three months of waiting, the Panthers picked up McClain in December.

Now, he’s about to start at cornerback in the Super Bowl.

“I thought I played well during the preseason. I didn’t expect that to happen,’’ McClain said of getting cut. “It was a greater plan that God had for me. I can’t question His plan, I just got to go along with it. I couldn’t have painted a better picture than this. I’m just thankful to be in this opportunity.’’

It certainly wasn’t easy. McClain has bounced around in his six NFL seasons after originally being drafted in the seventh round, by Carolina, of all teams. After one-plus year in Carolina, he spent a few weeks with the Jaguars, three productive seasons with the Falcons, then this past offseason with the Patriots, where he competed for their nickel cornerback spot.

With the Patriots, McClain lost the competition to veteran Tarell Brown, who subsequently re-injured his foot and was placed on injured reserve a month into the season.

The Patriots never called back McClain, but several teams did. Off the top of his head, McClain rattled off workouts with Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Carolina, Seattle, Tennessee, and Arizona. He thinks there were nine workouts overall. None resulted in a job.

“I had good workouts but they just didn’t have any open roster spots at the time, so I just had to be patient,’’ he said. “I’m going to go back and check the e-mails to see if I can sneak in that confirmation number, get some [frequent flier] miles from it.’’

McClain said it wasn’t easy staying encouraged, but his motivation came from his daughter, Selena, who turns 13 months on Sunday.

“Just seeing her smile every single day when she wakes up, not worried whether I play football, not worried about whether I’m unemployed, not worried about whether I’m mad and sad,’’ McClain said. “I wanted to make sure when she’s older that she can say that her dad had a nice, long career in the NFL.’’

In early December, the Panthers called for a workout. Like with his other opportunities, McClain returned to Atlanta empty-handed. He had another workout with the Bengals, with the same result.

The next week, Panthers cornerback Bene Benwikere broke his leg. And Charles Tillman was struggling to come back from a partially torn ACL that eventually landed him on IR. McClain was walking with his fiancé and daughter in the mall when his agent called with great news.

“It was just excitement, man. A calm excitement, not too hyper or anything,’’ McClain said. “Feels like it was ages ago.’’

The Panthers didn’t waste any time throwing McClain into the mix. He played in their final three games of the season, and had seven tackles and an interception in the Week 17 win over Tampa Bay.

McClain has started both games in the playoffs, logging eight tackles and a pass defended against Seattle and six tackles with two passes defended in the NFC Championship game.

He remains close with ex-Patriots teammates Duron Harmon, Malcolm Butler, Devin McCourty, Dominique Easley, Logan Ryan, and others. But he’ll be the only one playing this Sunday.

“I’m grateful,’’ McClain said. “I couldn’t have set this up. It was God’s plan and me working hard, perseverance, pushed me through to where I’m at now.’’

Being Cam

Broncos quarterback Brock Osweiler won’t be playing in Sunday’s Super Bowl (barring an injury or horrible performance by Peyton Manning), but he will be serving an important yet unusual purpose this week in practice.

Osweiler, a string bean at 6 feet 8 inches and 240 pounds, will be emulating Panthers quarterback Cam Newton, who is 6-6, 260 pounds.

“Well, he’s not quite as fast, I can tell you that,’’ Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said. “Brock takes his job very seriously. He has got to prepare to play, too. He has got to prepare to do his job for us, also. But, I think he has done a really good job. It’s a little bit different look in some of the things they do. The extra time has helped us. We needed the extra week. It helped us, especially defensively.’’

Davis set to play

Neither team practiced on Tuesday — the Panthers had a brief practice on Monday and both teams will get back to their regular schedule on Wednesday — but Panthers coach Ron Rivera expressed confidence that All-Pro linebacker Thomas Davis will play Sunday despite breaking his arm in the NFC Championship game 10 days ago. “I thought Thomas looked really good in practice [Monday],’’ Rivera said. “He used that hand, that arm, and one of the concerns with it really is just what would happen if he had to deliver a blow. He uses it to deliver a shot. He seemed to weather that yesterday very nicely.’’ . . . Before leaving for San Francisco, Rivera had Panthers broadcaster Eugene Robinson address the team about staying focused and avoiding the pitfalls of Super Bowl week, according to the Charlotte Observer. Robinson, formerly a starting safety for the Falcons, was arrested the night before Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami for soliciting sex from an undercover police officer. Robinson played the next day, and gave up an 80-yard touchdown pass to John Elway. “It says a lot that he would open up and say something about it,’’ Panthers tight end Ed Dickson told the Observer. “Because a lot of people would hold it in and not even talk about that moment.’’

Ben Volin can be reached at ben.volin@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @BenVolin