The New England Patriots’ first preseason under Mike Vrabel came to a close Thursday night, and now the real work begins.

Before the Patriots open their season at home against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sept. 7, Vrabel, general manager Eliot Wolf and the rest of the New England braintrust have some crucial decisions to make about the roster.

Based on Vrabel’s postgame comments after a 42-10 loss to the New York Giants on Thursday night, just about everything is on the table.

“We’re going to continually try to strengthen the roster every way we can,” Vrabel told reporters after the game in a press conference posted on YouTube. “There’s a couple options, right? You can try to trade for players.

You could try to claim some players next week. “Again, we’re always going to be trying to strengthen the roster.

That’s what we’ll try to do here over the course of the next 10 days.”

Vrabel admitted he did like that the team is starting to gain an identity, which is a crucial step in the right direction for a team that has won eight combined games over the last two season.

Ultimately, it comes down to talent, too, and the Patriots have lacked in that regard. They seem to be taking the right steps there, too, but the uncertainty makes the decision-making process even more difficult. Regardless, turnover is coming at 1 Patriot Place.

“The roster is going to change,” Vrabel added. “That’s part of the business that we’re in. We always want to make those transactions as respectful as possible.

That’s part of the game. That’s kind of the life we’ve chosen.

“There will be some conversations that we’ll have with players over the next few days. We’ll keep those obviously very respectful. Hopefully some of those guys can either end up back on our team or somebody else’s.”

Sometimes, circumstances make the decisions easier.

The Patriots, for example, reportedly lost Ja’Lynn Polk — who was on the roster bubble — for the season with a shoulder injury.