What Separated Patriots From Other Interested Teams? Mike Vrabel Explains
The New England Patriots weren’t the only team interested in naming Mike Vrabel their newest head coach, but they were the team chosen by the 49-year-old.
Vrabel elected to turn down opportunities elsewhere to return to the franchise where he spent eight seasons and helped capture three Super Bowl championships as a player. Vrabel faces a challenge that’s led to three different faces assuming the position in the past three seasons and one Vrabel is ready to embrace.
When asked what made the Patriots such an attractive landing spot, Vrabel pointed toward a handful of individuals within the organization.
“I think the ability to have open dialogue with Robert and Jonathan (Kraft) was something that was critical, Eliot (Wolf) and his staff, obviously what I believe and what everybody else believes is a young, dynamic quarterback,” Vrabel told reporters Monday at Gillette Stadium, per a team-provided transcript. “We have some youth on the roster. We have some veteran players who have kind of seen both sides of it and understand, and that will help me and will help our players get back to that success and understand how hard it is.”
New England, arguably more than anyone else in the league, is in dire need of a direction shift. The Patriots endured their second consecutive last-place finish in the AFC East and their third playoff miss in a row, notching a 4-13 record. Fans quickly lost trust in the team and turned their backs on ex-head coach Jerod Mayo.
Quarterback Drake Maye did, however, demonstrate early signs that the organization made the right choice in last year’s draft — preventing the season from being a complete dud.
Vrabel also underwent interviews with the New York Jets, led by 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and the Chicago Bears before ultimately deciding that stepping in for the early stage of Maye’s development was the right choice to make.
Maye, New England’s No. 3 overall selection from the 2023 NFL draft, made 12 starts throughout his rookie season with the Patriots. The North Carolina product presented promising flashes once Mayo gave Maye the nod to replace initial starter Jacoby Brissett, as the 22-year-old logged 2,276 yards passing with 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Still, it’ll take more than Maye to get the Patriots back to where they need to be, and Vrabel understands that fully.
“We just want to be good enough to take advantage of bad football,” Vrabel said. “That’s where we’re going to start. That’s what I’ve tried to tell all the players is right now I don’t know if we’re good enough to take advantage of bad football. I’m unsure. Like we’re undefeated right now, but if we can just work toward taking advantage of bad football and being good enough to, when somebody makes a mistake, capitalizing on it and not being the ones that make the mistakes, and focusing on the little things and the details and helping them do their job better, that’s a great place to start.”