Patriots coach Mike Vrabe;l addressed the media Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. (AP photo)

Mike Vrabel says it’s still too early for the New England Patriots to have formulated a plan already for next month’s NFL free agency peiod, but the team’s head coach certainly seems to have an approach in mind, cap space or no cap space.

“I’ve never really tried to get focused [on that],” Vrabel said Wednesday during a press conference at the annual NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. “If I shop at Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom or something, I’ve gotten to the point now in my life where if I want something, I can usually buy it. I’m sure Richard Miller, Eliot and Matt Groh will work and do everything that they can to help us sign the players, with certain exceptions. I haven’t even gotten that far. If you like something, you usually just try to buy it.”

As for the team’s plans, Vrabel said ” 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.

“We know how difficult that will be. So right now, the plan is to evaluate everybody that we can, have communication and conversations, when those times come, with the agents as we approach the tampering window. 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.”

Last year the Patriots signed receiver Stefon Diggs as a free agent, and need to make a call on Diggs in a couple of weeks regarding a roster bonus. What’s his future as a Patriot?

“Well, I mean, not only his future, but what he was able to do for us and come in and provide leadership,” Vrabel said. “He worked extremely hard in the time that he was rehabbing from the knee. I think he was just a really good presence each and every week. So, as we look to evaluate the football team, we’re doing that constantly, Eliot [Wolf], myself, Ryan [Cowden], Stretch [John Streicher] and Eliot’s staff.

“Just being a little bit behind of where we were with just how long the season went, where those conversations for each and every player are happening in the meetings in between the ones we have the draft players here. So, there’s a lot of things that we’ll do between now and the time that the football season starts. So, that’s going to be the same with, I would say, most every player on our roster.”

Vrabel was asked if Diggs’ current court case factors into any decision.

“I think that there are probably some things that go into – making decisions, again, we want our players to make great decisions,” he said. “Again, we’ve tried to support those players that have some things that have come up, whether those are accusations – we’re going to let the legal process run its course, just like we’ve said before.

“Those players, whether that’s Stefon or anybody else that has something, have done exactly what they’re supposed to do, been where they’re supposed to be, communicated with the court when they’re supposed to communicate with them. So, we’re going to let all that take care of itself, and then we’ll have to see what the judgments are in those particular cases.”

One receiver that Vrabel is close to plays for another team – the Eagles. That would be A.J. Brown, who played for him in Tennessee. Brown is rumored to be on the trading block.

“I’ve watched him grow,” Vrabel said. “I’ve watched him mature. I’m proud of him, proud of the father that he is. I’m proud of the husband. That has nothing to do with where he plays or where he played. Those are the things that are important. We reach out and text each other during the good things that happen to each other.

“Sometimes things don’t go so well for the people that you’re close with, and you text for those as well. It’s a two-way street of support and reminders of what got us to where we are here today.”

Of course, the reason Vrabel is in Indianapolis is to evaluate this year’s draft class.

“Just looking across the board, I think there’s volume at the tight end class,” Vrabel said. “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.

“So, wherever that value is, I just think that there are some names there. I, myself, personally, have to do a better job of evaluating that position that I can then give input to the rest of the personnel staff and kind of the vision that we have for that position. We’ve met with a bunch of edge players. There’s depth there. So, we’ll continue to work our way across the board and enjoy these meetings, and I’ll have to go back and continue to watch.”

Vrabel of course has had to deal with the Super Bowl loss.

“Again, I’ve tried to say that this is 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.,” he said. “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. Players will come in on April 20th. Again, we’ll have to have a program in place that’s modified from one they just went through and whatever modifications that we make to that.”