It is a very important offseason for the New England Patriots, with so many changes expected to be made after the struggling 2024 campaign. 

And that starts with free agency. 

The Patriots have many holes on their roster, and they need some veteran players to help them get back on track. 

So, how does new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel expect to approach free agency? 

"Hopefully aggressive. I mean, we want to be aggressive. We want to target players that we feel like are going to help us," Vrabel told reporters at the NFL Combine on Tuesday. "They're going to be outstanding players. They will be outstanding additions to the locker room and the community, and if that all fits, and the compensation fits. 

"But, I'm confident that we will be aggressive. We started some of those discussions internally."

Last week, NFL teams were informed that the 2025 per-team salary cap will fall in the range of $277.5 million to $281.5 million. That's a large jump from last year's $255.4 million. The expected projection for this year was around $275 million.

As of Over The Cap, the Patriots currently have a total of $128,071,728 in cap space. 

So, hopefully that will help them attract some of the bigger players in free agency. But, it's hard when 32 teams are all going after the same guys. 

"I think having different plans and having an Option A and an Option B. I mean, things are going to change. Everybody's looking at the same player, so we have to be ready to pivot and adjust and have a vision for each player at each level," Vrabel continued. "Free agency gets broken down into compensation and then it gets broken down into opportunity. 

"I feel like we're in a position to offer both, as far as compensation and opportunity for some of these players."

But they are still expected to target some of these key free agents? 

"I like to shop like everybody else," Vrabel said. "So when you go and there's only one of a certain car, maybe you have to pay a little bit more for that one car, because there's only one of them. When you start to get into a range where you feel like players are comparable, and you like three to four players in a certain area for a certain role, you may not have to overspend.

"But it's free agency. I think everyone overspends sometimes in free agency."

Vrabel has committed to taking an aggressive approach, but now he has to put that in motion. NFL free agency officially begins at 4 p.m. on March 12.