Mike Vrabel Explains Patriots Cutting Ties With Ja’Whaun Bentley, Other Leaders
The Patriots made another significant roster move last Friday.
New England released linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley, who was a captain for four of his seven seasons with the franchise. A recent report indicated Bentley was set to compete for a role with the 2025 Patriots, but the 28-year-old now will try to find work elsewhere in the NFL.
Speaking with the media Monday morning at the annual league meeting in West Palm Beach, head coach Mike Vrabel was asked what went into his team releasing Bentley.
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“These are difficult decisions — players that have been here for a while and made great contributions to the football team before I was here,” Vrabel told reporters, per a team-provided video. “I know the Kraft family and the organization appreciate everything that they did. These are decisions we don’t take lightly. These are tough personnel decisions that we have to make. Once we come to that conclusion, we be as honest and direct with the player as we can. And that’s what we did with Ja’Whaun.”
Of course, Bentley wasn’t the only veteran leader who the Patriots said goodbye to this offseason. New England also released eight-time captain David Andrews and let Jonathan Jones and Deatrich Wise walk in free agency. Vrabel was asked if those were all individual decisions or rather a collective effort to reset the culture at One Patriot Place.
“Those were all individual decisions,” Vrabel told reporters. “The captaincy is not a four-year term, it’s not an eight-year term. It’s a year-to-year term. Every player has to prove themselves each and every day to the football team. There were some veteran players that have done a lot of great things. It was just individual decisions. Some of those other players went and moved on to another football team. Some, we had decisions that we made. So, it’s just all part of the roster construction.”
Vrabel long has led and coached with conviction, so it wasn’t surprising that he didn’t hesitate to make mold moves upon taking the job in New England. Now, we will wait and see if all of those choices make the Patriots a better team in the upcoming season.