Patriots coach Mike Vrabel says the franchise's goal every year is to win a Super Bowl championship. (AP photo)

Mike Vrabel made no bones about what his goal is every season.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft said on Monday the Patriots in reaching the Super Bowl “overachieved” last season and that the goal is always to make the playoffs, and that may be tougher this year with the schedule.

“I talked to Robert about that,” Patriots head coach Vrabel said Tuesday during media availability at the AFC Coaches Breakfast/NFL Owners Meetings in Phoenix. “Him and I had a really good conversation. … Championships will remain the goal. It will never change. I appreciate Robert’s support, but we want to win the division, we want to host playoff games and we want to compete for championships.”

Last season, in reaching the Super Bowl after a 14-3 regular season, wetted the organization’s appetite.

“We got a taste of that,” Vrabel said. “We saw what it looked like. We saw the environment that it created to be able to play those playoff games at home which was unbelievable and so much fun.”

And that’s why Vrabel says “We’ll play whoever we have to play, we understand what this looks like, we’re going to play the division winner schedule, and that’s how it goes. … Everything about this league is hard.”

Vrabel was asked about when the Patriots won it all in 2001, his first year with the team as a player, and in 2002 everyone was gunning for them.

“Again, we only have 17 games,” he said. “I hope each and every week they’re getting our best shot and we’re getting their best shot. We’re not going to have a job if we don’t do that.”

And now the Patriots set sail on trying to build another winner, with the draft in three weeks that next step after a round of free agency.

“I love all our players,” he said. “The free agents we were able to acquire were a collaborative effort between the coaches, the personnel (department), myself and being able to add guys that we believe in and to help us. And we’ll continue to add guys.”

But the roster, Vrabel said, is different year to year and that’s the NFL way.

“Every year’s different,” he said. “There’s change in the coaching staff, personnel, the players, like the guys we were able to add and we’ll continue to try to strengthen the roster.”

Vrabel was asked about any future additions – the team’s highly rumored interest in Eagles receiver A.J. Brown certainly the impetus for that kind of question – and the coach gave the response VP of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf has given. “Anything that we can continue to do to try to strengthen the roster, we’re going to try to do it.”

Vrabel says the receiver room, which is minus its leading pass catcher from a year ago, the released Stefon Diggs, is strong.

“Certainly we targeted Romeo (Dobbs) with the consistency he’s had and shown his first four years in the NFL,” he said. “I think he’s gotten better, I think he’s improved each and every year. You mentioned Kayshon (Boutte), and I think Pop (Douglas) is a player that’s really going to continue to grow and develop, and we have to find ways to give him the ball. Kyle (Williams) really excited, talking about him trying to improve his play strength, and that’s something he’s been focusing on in the off-season. We know what his speed is and his release skills and we always tell him his ability to go and track the ball down the field. There’s a lot of guys we’re excited about.”

Vrabel isn’t concerned about replacing Diggs’ numbers, but rather his reliability.

“It’s literally about targets,” Vrabel said. “The efficiency, we all appreciate what Stef did…What has to happen is the efficiency he was able to catch the ball was impressive…That’s something we’ll have to re-create.”

Vrabel said he loved the identity that Diggs brought, his “energy, loved who he is as a person. Whether you play offense or defense, we’re going to need guys who have great identity and bring energy to the football team.”

But it’s clear Vrabel has something else in mind. He wants the Patriots to be able to run the ball and run with authority. That sentiment was expressed by Wolf as a team goal when it went into free agency and came up with a blocking tight end (Julian Hill), a fullback (Reggie Gilliam) and potential new starting left guard (Alijah Vera-Tucker).

“We, the Patriots, want to be more consistent running the football,” Vrabel said. “This isn’t like we’re going to run it every single play, it’s just that I felt like there were too many times we wanted to run it and we’re just inefficient. We popped some which were great, we had some explosives, and so when you go back there and average it all out it’s ‘OK’. But I want to be able to do it more consistently to allow for some of the run-actions in the passing game to really come alive and start to help us.

“It’s a tough league if you have to sit there and drop back and throw the football as much as we did in the last game (Super Bowl) of the season.”

Does the signing of Tucker limit the use of reserve Ben Brown?

“I don’t know if those two things necessarily go hand in hand,” Vrabel said. “I love Ben Brown, I love the teammate that he is and I love his ability to be versatile and play center and play guard and be prepared and every week prepare as a starter. … Alijah was just a player we felt like had a skill set and talent. I understand the injuries, but just felt like we wanted to add his talent to the roster.”

Vrabel says “The league has to develop offensive linemen. It’s a critical, important position for the game to protect our quarterbacks that are so valuable to our league. So whether we draft them, whether we sign them, whatever we do, we have to be able to develop offensive linemen to be able to protect our quarterback, such a critical position. However we can continue to do that, I want to do that.”

Vrabel said he doesn’t focus on cap space, saying that’s up to Wolf & Co. Would he give up draft picks in next year’s draft in a trade? This was another reference to the Brown rumors.

“Compensation is compensation,” Vrabel said. “You have to agree to something, whether it’s capital in this year’s draft … however you can come to an agreement with another team. I’ve never really looked at it as this year, next year, how good the draft is going to be in three years. … If you make a trade, you want to come to an agreement that both teams feel they’re getting something that everybody’s happy.”

Defensively, Vrabel says that edge rusher Harold Landry is “continuing to rehab” but it’s clear in Vrabel’s words that Landry, signed as a free agent last year, is not the same player Vrabel loved when he was at Tennessee.

“It’s unfortunate that anybody who watches the tape can see Harold before hurting his knee, then after. … Like anyone else, he works his tail off to get back. Don’t really know where it’s at right now because it’s in the rehab process.

“That being said, we’ll continue to strengthen every position, whether that’s the interior of the defensive line, the edge, inside linebacker … I like the guys that we have; that doesn’t mean we won’t try to add to the position.”

Vrabel also talked about another edge, that of a player’s persona, which was asked when it pertained to Brown.

“What receiver doesn’t want to catch the ball, what pass rusher doesn’t want to sack the quarterback, what DB doesn’t want to intercept the ball,” he said. “Running backs want to score touchdowns. That’s how this thing goes. There’s a balance between their own personal success, mindset, and how they can help the team.”

And, as Vrabel will tell you, help the team win championships.