The Patriots have reached another tentpole event on the NFL’s offseason calendar, with annual league meetings taking place in Phoenix, Arizona this week.

On Tuesday, head coach Mike Vrabel spoke to reporters at The Biltmore Hotel about a wide range of topics. With the initial wave of free agency now completed, New England has mostly turned its attention to April’s Draft as it continues to build out its roster. From a big-picture standpoint, Vrabel spoke about the challenge ahead for the 2026 Patriots, which will play a first-place schedule and likely have more marquee games as the reigning AFC champs.

“Championships will remain the goal. That will never change,” said Vrabel. “We want to win the division, we want to host playoff games, and we want to compete for championships. We got a taste of that. We saw the environment that it created to be able to play those playoff games at home, which was unbelievable and so much fun. We’ll play whoever we have to play. We’re gonna play the division winner’s schedule, and that’s how it goes.”

Along with having a tougher schedule, Vrabel noted that he’s thinking “a lot” about how to recreate the team chemistry that was palpable with last year’s Patriots. New England had rare locker room chemistry that contributed to their 14-3 regular season and run to Super Bowl LX. As the one who sets the tone for the team, one of Vrabel’s superpowers is his culture-building, but each year is different.

“We spend a lot of time together, and we all come from different backgrounds. Some players are going to be coming back, some of them are new,” Vrabel said. “We’ll continue to find ways to [build chemistry] without being, you know, never want to make it a gimmick. It’s important to me that it’s not gimmicky. That what we do is authentic, real, and genuine.”

The Patriots head coach hit on several themes from a birds-eye view, but Vrabel also touched on roster specifics in his 30-minute Q&A on Tuesday morning. Here are our top takeaways.

1. Patriots and Eagles Confirm Plan to Hold Joint Practices in Foxborough This Summer

On Monday, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni confirmed reports that the Patriots and Eagles will have joint practices in Foxborough this summer. Along with getting practice work in against another playoff-caliber team, that suggests the Eagles will be on the Patriots preseasons schedule as well in August. On Tuesday, Vrabel gave his two cents on practicing with Philly this summer.

“I didn’t think we were gonna [confirm the practices], but then Nick said something yesterday, so I guess we’re kind of forced into doing it,” Vrabel joked. “They’re a talented football team. Just their consistency over the last four or five years. I felt like that would be a good opportunity for us to go against a really good football team.”

With the Eagles slated to come to town in training camp, the scuttlebutt around star receiver A.J. Brown feels relevant: Will he be practicing for the Eagles or the Patriots? To that end, Vrabel said, “We’ve talked about this since last January. We’re gonna try to do everything we can to strengthen our roster through the draft, through free agency, multiple ways of player acquisition.”

2. Vrabel Shares Thoughts on the New Balance Athletic Center Next to Gillette Stadium

Before heading out to Arizona, Vrabel and the rest of the Patriots football operations moved into the brand new New Balance Athletics Center located next to Gillette Stadium. Spanning 160,000 square feet, the facility is a fully integrated performance campus for football operations, featuring a massive locker room, football offices, and new workout facilities that open onto the Patriots’ lower practice fields.

“Our players come in on April 20, I think there’s going to be an energy they’re going to enjoy coming to work just from how nice it is,” Vrabel said of the new facility. “The functionality, the space, all those types of things. So it’ll be a great place for learning, a great place to develop our players from the weight room to the training room to the locker room, cafeteria, and just the meeting space that we have is going to be really nice.”