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FOXBORO - Bill Belichick has never tried to be Nostradamus. His view of the future is short-term in nature and doesn't involve predictions.

So it came as no surprise Monday that his earliest season-ending press conference in six years would not contain any revelations or clues of where the Patriots are headed in the year to come.

Instead of being dressed in a suit and knowing that the Vince Lombardi Trophy was packed in Styrofoam peanuts and ready to be shipped to Foxboro, Belichick wore his standard coaching attire, including an indoor workout version of the famed gray hoodie, as he met with the media at Gillette Stadium for the last time before the NFL Draft. Ousted from playoff consideration because of tiebreakers to Miami and Baltimore, the Patriots were in the unusual position Monday of cleaning out their lockers and going their separate ways before the New Year's Day holiday.

That's not where they wanted to be as competitors, Belichick said, but it may not be a bad thing for them as human beings to finally get some rest.

"One thing that we all need and deserve around here is a little bit of rest," he said. "A lot of our players went in the past couple of years from the end of the season to rehabbing an injury, to jumping into the offseason program, to getting back on that treadmill again. I think that maybe this year is an opportunity for some of those guys to take it at a little bit of a different pace. "That would include the coaching staff as well," he added. "Our guys around here work hard. They put in a lot of hours. They are very dedicated. They could use a little break and I think you can include me in that group."

Belichick reiterated his pride in the team for playing as hard as it could to overcome negative circumstances that arose throughout the year. But he also said, "You always want to be playing in the last game of the year," and the inference was that missing the playoffs is still a disappointment, regardless of how heroic the Patriots' run to 11-5 might have been.

After a break, he said, he and the rest of the football operation will self-evaluate and determine the direction for the 2009 season. But now was not the time to ask specific questions about the future because, as he said, it had been less than a day since the end of a routine that began in training camp.

That included reports that the Patriots' vice president in charge of personnel, Scott Pioli, had been granted permission to speak to the Cleveland Browns about a top management role, or continuing rumors of other teams' interest in offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels as a potential head coach.

Those rumors continued to swirl about even as two past members of the Belichick coaching tree, the Jets' Eric Mangini and the Browns' Romeo Crennel, were fired from their jobs on Monday.

"It's part of a coach's life and it's part of the job," Belichick said. "Most of us have been there at least once during the course of their career. I understand that is part of it. It's a tough day for all coaches when those things happen because we have all been a part of those in one way or another, and you don't like to see that happen to anybody.

"But you know it's going to happen and it happens every year," he said. "It seems like it happens quite a bit in some years, and it looks like this is one of those years."

Belichick's good nature was tested a couple of times when reporters pressed for more specific answers. When one asked if Junior Seau would return for a 20th NFL season, a slightly exasperated Belichick responded, "It's just 24 hours after the game 24 hours after the game is not the time to make a lot of decisions and we're not making them today."

He also seemed to mildly refute recent reports that injured quarterback Tom Brady is far behind in his rehabilitation from knee surgery and a subsequent infection.

"Tom's here on a regular basis," Belichick said. "I see him all the time. I see our doctors and trainers all the time. I don't need to go read a report and see what somebody else has to say. Those people are all here. We do it on a regular basis."