Keep holding your collective breath, New England Patriot fans.

You’ve just begun about a five-week span that coaches all over the NFL hate – the down period between the end of the spring OTAs/minicamps and the start of training camp. They just hope the players don’t get into any trouble and there’s no one else caught on video handing out bags of pink powder, whatever.

“Well, I don’t think it’s a downtime,” Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said last week during mandatory minicamp. “It’s time away from the facility. I think it’s important. It’s probably the five most important weeks of the offseason as far as I’m concerned, just in my history as a player and a coach.”

And that’s not just about potential pitfalls.

“It’s critical that they come back in shape, that they’re ready to go for training camp,” Vrabel said, “that we’re prepared as coaches with the schedule, the installation and what we’re doing. The players have to hold up their end of the bargain to prepare for training camp.”

Training camp will open a little earlier this year, Patriots fans. Rather than at the end of July, it’s about a week earlier, with players reporting July 22 and the first training camp practice on Wednesday morning, July 23. Plan accordingly.

What will we see? Will Stefon Diggs be able to fully practice? That’s only if Patriot team doctors fully clear him from his knee surgery. Doubtful, no matter how good he looks, but who knows?

“Everybody’s going to have a plan,” Vrabel said. “It’ll be different with as many players as we have. My job is to make sure that everybody’s working regardless of what plan that they’re on. “There will be players that just do individual (drills). There will be players that just do team. There will be players that are off on the side conditioning, or whatever that may be. That’s going to change daily throughout training camp.”

What will Camp Vrabel be like? It’ll be different than Camp Mayo, but let’s set the record straigh, Mayo did run a tough, physical training camp. But it was marred by distractions, contract issues, be it extending players or having issues, such as the one with Matt Judon that made Mayo look like the inmates were running the asylum. In some cases, they were. Remember how unhappy Patriots Keion White was at the end of last season with the coaching?

Vrabel stands for control. He certainly knows the deal, he knows what players will try to get away with, what they know enough not to try. He dealt with Diggs swiftly and presto! Diggs appears at the next voluntarily OTA session. Speaks volumes.

When camp opens, all eyes will be on the quarterback as usual, Drake Maye. Daily practice updates. Maye last week spoke about being a leader, about how he’s absorbing the Josh McDaniels offense, etc.

“Yeah, I think it’s an opportunity for me to take a jump,” Maye said this past week. “I think from last year being a rookie, trying to come in here and earn my stripes, earn my keep through hard work.

“I think this year is the same approach. You got new guys in here, new staff, got to keep on getting to know everybody, show my work ethic. From there, as the season comes around, try to take the next step in leadership and leading the offense and hopefully leading this football team.”

Patriot fans will be more looking for him to complete passes, stop fumbling and not hand the ball to the defense, be it by air or ground. Talk is always cheap in spring and summer. The talk on the field is fall is what we’re all looking for, right?

But in the meantime, it’s that quiet period. Even Vrabel said he’ll relax, maybe play some golf.

“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “The last 10 days, you get a little cranky because you’re ready to go to training camp. You get a little cranky because you’re just, as a player, you’re thinking about starting training camp and that’s kind of carried through.”

Hit ’em straight, Mike Vrabel, because there will be a lot tougher shots you’ll need to take starting July 22 through early January – and hopefully beyond.

Tom King may be reached at X @Telegraph_TomK, or via email at tking@nashuatelegraph.com