Patriots coach Mike Vrabel will have a lot of decisions to make after tonight's final preseason game at the Giants. (AP photo)

It’s the final dress rehearsal.

The 2025 New England Patriots preseason comes to an end tonight in the Meadowlands vs. the New York Giants, and there’s still a lot of intrigue.

Who’s going to start on the offensive line? What about the receivers, where the competition is close? Will it be another time to showcase safety Kyle Dugger and linebacker Anfernee Jennings, who are rumored to be slip-sliding away from the roster? And will Drake Maye, if he plays, put two solid series together and not make a mistake? Will running back TreVeyon Henderson dazzle us again, if he plays?

There’s still plenty to figure out, and the thing is, the Patriots will have 16 days before they take the field for a game again, but that one, the season opener vs. the Raiders at Gillette Stadium, finally counts.

But, as Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said earlier this week, “We don’t ever underestimate the performance in a game, in live action.”

Tonight may tell a lot as to what kind of moves the Patriots make soon after. The league has already been active with trades, and Tuesday is Cutdown Day, with the rosters needing to be at 53 by 4 p.m.

“We’re always trying to evaluate and improve.” Vrabel said. “I can’t see a scenario where we’d ever not want to do that and continue to try to improve the roster or continue to evaluate who we think is going to give us the best chance to win, and also who has shown enough to want to work with on the practice squad.

“Again, we’ve talked about the different types of players that maybe will end up on the practice squad throughout the league, whether that’s a young developmental player or maybe somebody that can be called up for the game quickly on short notice.”

The Patriots will have to figure their starting center, and left guard. Ben Brown got time last weekend at Minnesota at left guard while rookie Jared Wilson had been at left guard but can also play center.

“Ben’s continued to improve,” Vrabel said. “There’s opportunities — Ben got us going in the run game there early. I thought he did okay. It wasn’t perfect, but Ben finishes, and he’s firm. We’re going to continue to coach all these guys, whether it’s Jared [Wilson] or Ben or Caedan [Wallace], about staying inside out and being patient in their set and timing their punch.

“We’ll continue to evaluate that spot and that rotation and where we’re at competing and trying to make sure that we’re giving everybody the opportunity in there, from the center and the left guard, and just trying to figure out what the best combination is.”

As for receiver, we have yet to see much from Stefon Diggs in the preseason except a little in practice. Javon Baker, on the bubble, was hurt last week but reportedly did make the trip to Jersey. His best chance to make the team seems to be on special teams, one would think.

The darling of the preseason, undrafted rookie receiver Efron Chism III, got injured late in the Vikings game and didn’t practice this week. But he isn’t expected to play tonight and many feel he’s made the team.

There’s a lot to be decided, and most head coaches treat the final preseason game, whether it be Game 3 or, in the old days, 4, as an exercise they have to go through while making sure key players don’t play so they don’t get hurt.

We’ll see how the Patriots treat this one tonight.