Patriots coach Mike Vrabel will now begin the process of planning for the 2026 season after the disappointment of Super Bowl LX. (AP photo)

Mike Vrabel didn’t mince words in his season ending press conference on Tuesday at Gillette Stadium.

Yes, there will be some changes, the New England Patriots head coach said. And the next season will start quicker than one might think.

“This whole thing starts over in 10 weeks,” Vrabel said yesterday. “The offseason program starts in 10 weeks. That’s how I look at this, and when I said that to them, they kind of looked at me like I was crazy. But that’s the reality of it.

“We have a group of guys that played a lot of football. We have a lot of guys that didn’t play a lot of football. As I was taught, we talk about the business of the NFL, the businesses, we’re looking for the better, younger, cheaper player every day, and the players that we have are trying to not let that happen. And that’s the dynamic, and that’s the business of the National Football League.”

Vrabel knows decisions need to be made.

“I mean, there’ll be some difficult decisions that we’ll have to make, and we’ll try to do them with the team’s best interest in mind. As always, that’ll never change. I appreciate what they did and how they came together, all the guys that came in from other places that maybe didn’t start the year with us, and the different path and a different journey that each guy took.”

But each year, Vrabel said, is different. He found that out as a player.

“We know we’ll continually have to improve,” he said. “Reflect upon the first Super Bowl I played in, was able to win and failed to make the playoffs the next year. So, we know how difficult this is. Won’t be easy, it never will be. So, we’ll have a plan.”

He also said there could be changes on the coaching staff because that’s the way the league is.

“There’s always going to be change,” he said. “I don’t know when I would expect those. I just try to focus on the season. I met with the players this morning. We’ll continue to meet and visit with coaches, and we’ll kind of go from there.”

Speaking of change, Vrabel said there won’t be an with Will Campbell. He is not going to be moved off left tackle, despite the scrutiny.

“When you sign up to play left tackle, you sign up to play corner, you sign up to play quarterback, you sign up to be the head coach, you get judged, you get scrutinized,” Vrabel said. “Will’s 22 years old. He’s our left tackle. He’ll get better, he’ll get stronger. There were moments where he played well, moments where he blocked the guy. There’s plays he’d like to have back.

“We’re not moving Will to guard, to center, to tight end or anywhere else. So, I don’t know what to tell you.”

Vrabe relayed what he said to the players.

“Well, I just talked about a disappointing finish to a phenomenal, exciting, enjoyable year. It’s unfortunate. Talked to them about the foundation I think that we’ve built,” he said. “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.

“I like the foundation of it, and we’ll try to improve on it.”

MAYE SAYS HE COULD MAKE THE THROWS

Patriots quarterback Drake Maye said Tuesday his arm felt great despite playing in the most games in a season he’s ever done.

“I feel like my arm was feeling great all year,” he said. “I don’t think throwing, really, was the instance for my arm. I think it’s the case of having one hit in the AFC Championship game that was just kind of unfortunate, unfortunate timing. “The two weeks were great to have off to have a chance to be out there and be out there for my guys. I mean, you can’t blame things on injuries. Things like this happen all the time in the league.

“I was blessed this year. What a year of health and blessings for me this year. You can’t throw it on one little thing on the shoulder. So, it’s just unfortunate it happened to the throwing one, but at the same time, I could have prevented it or made more plays.”

And he said he was OK in the Super Bowl.

“I was feeling like I was able to make throws in the game and was myself,” he said. “So, nothing that I have much else to say about that.”

Maye has reflected a little more on the Super Bowl loss.

“We left it all out there,” he said. “I know that. We came up short and we didn’t execute or play how we wanted to, but there’s a lot of things that this team did well, and we can use it down the road when we get back in OTAs or get back in training camp.

“What could be the difference or what can we do a little extra? What could I do in the quarterback room? What could we do in the quarterback room a little more? Find answers to make throws or to make those plays in those situations that kind of change the outcome of the game.”

But he knows the Patriots have to get better because everyone else will.

You’ve got to elevate,” he said. “We improved so quickly, how we won the division and won the AFC and a lot of great things. So, teams are going to try to have a bullseye on us and try to stop us. So, we’ve got to try not to be complacent and know that the teams are going to be chasing us, and we’ve got to try to chase the Seahawks.”