INDIANAPOLIS – On Wednesday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel made the media rounds at the Scouting Combine, touching on a wide array of offseason topics as he turned the page to the 2026 offseason.
It was a quick turnaround for Vrabel. Just over two weeks removed from his end-of-season press conference in the wake of the Super Bowl loss to the Seahawks, the head coach was ready to put the 2025 season in perspective and get to the tough task of building another Patriots contender.
First comes the internal evaluation, as Vrabel and the Patriots staffers consider their own roster and pending free agents, and decide which course of action to take for each specific player, just as they're beginning their breakdowns of the incoming rookie class.
"Those conversations for each and every player are happening in the meetings in between the ones we have the draft players here," said Vrabel. "So, there's a lot of things that we'll do between now and the time that the football season starts."
Vrabel wouldn't reveal what they're cooking up for the next two months of roster building through free agency and the draft. After a delayed start, those plans are just being formulated.
"I don't want to tell you what it is because we're still working through it. We want to have a plan, and we want to bring in really talented players that we have a vision for, that we also believe in the type of character that they have as we build this team and improve on what we did this year.
"Right now, it's about gaining information from our scouting department and having our coaches look at it and then figuring out a few players at each position that may help us."
The offseason plan will also include pushing the assistant coaches to get creative and find ways for the team to evolve. With most of the coaching staff expected to return intact, there will be a level of continuity that should help many breakout players continue to improve.
Especially MVP runner-up Drake Maye, who can look forward to another season with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant.
"I think right now it's about, from a coaching standpoint, what we did well, how we can enhance it, the new ideas," said Vrabel. "We have to have fresh ideas to what we're doing in all three phases. That's been my direction to the staff is to go through and focus on what we can do to enhance the core concepts, but also, I need to see some new ideas that maybe force us to push ourselves in a different direction. Not a wholesale change, but things that we feel like can help us, but that are also new."
As always, the most critical part of the offseason will be the draft. That's where the fresh lifeblood for NFL teams restocks the shelves and helps teams compete with young, cost-controlled players whom they can develop and tailor to their system.
After a strong 2025 draft class, Vrabel hopes to get similar contributions from this year's selections. While the edge position features a deep group and a much-discussed need for the Patriots, Vrabel also pointed toward the tight end position, where quality depth seems to always exist.
"I think there's volume at the tight end class," said Vrabel. "Whether they're premium players or what people would say are first-round picks, I just know that when you go and you evaluate other teams and you get ready to play for them, there's a bunch of fourth and fifth round tight ends that end up starting, playing and contributing."
Losing a Super Bowl presents unexpected challenges. Your offseason is condensed, your shortfalls are exaggerated in the aftermath and before the confetti is cleaned off the field, you're already at the Combine in Indy. At least the winner gets a parade and a ring. The loser gets thrown right back into the fire before their wounds have even healed.
But with that, Vrabel and the Pats are turning the page and using the Combine as a springboard into 2026. They established a team identity and built a solid foundation. Now they must continue to add on and build around it.
"[The Super Bowl] was a terrible ending to a pretty fantastic season, one that I enjoyed probably as much as any other season that I've been a part of," said Vrabel. "Just from building it, enjoying coming to work, the relationships, bringing people together that were there in place, people that we brought in new, players that were there and staff that was there. Then also adding to that and knowing how delicate that can be. I enjoyed all that. I didn't enjoy losing, certainly not that game. There's work to do. We're already back at the Combine, and this thing is rolling."
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