Mike Vrabel stood in front of his Patriots’ team for the final time on Tuesday.
Two days after a magical season ended in disappointment in Super Bowl LX, Vrabel delivered a simple message.
“I just talked
about a disappointing finish to a phenomenal, exciting, enjoyable year. It’s unfortunate,” he shared. “Talked to them about the foundation I think that we’ve built.
“We built a foundation, but we aren’t done remodeling,” rookie Will Campbell echoed. “We did some great things this year, and there’s obviously a lot of area for improvement and that’s up to us to do.”
After back-to-back four win seasons, few expected the Patriots to even be playing on Sunday’s biggest stage entering the season.
But a reshaped roster and new culture established by Vrabel that created a tight bond in the locker room, New England exceeded expectations — something the coach acknowledged on Tuesday.
As the Patriots now look to clear the final hump, this offseason will likely look different from the last. It won’t include a major spending spree, and it won’t include a top draft pick, with New England slated to select 31st overall in the 2026 NFL Draft. Instead, the focus will be on upgrading and remodeling the roster rather than rebuilding it.
“Much like a home, you build a home and then run out of things to do, so you continue to add on to it, you finish the basement, you make additions to it, and we’ll try to do that to this football team,” Vrabel said. “I like the foundation of it, and we’ll try to improve on it.”
For a team that wore custom blue, collared work shirts throughout the year, the construction analogy resonated throughout the team auditorium.
“I think that was a great analogy,” upcoming free agent K’Lavon Chaisson said. “We set a good foundation for what we want this new era of the franchise to be.”
Vrabel, the AP Coach of the Year, is central to that foundation. So is 23-year-old quarterback Drake Maye, who emerged as one of the league’s top players this season despite a rocky stretch in the playoffs.
Together, they represent the biggest reason for optimism that the Patriots can return to this stage — and finish the job.
“You got Drake Maye. You got Coach Vrabel. That’s a great start to any organization,” cornerback Carlton Davis said. “So from there on, we just keep building. We just keep putting the right pieces together, keep meshing together and keep working. And you guys will see us soon.”
