Does Mike Vrabel Gushing About Top Draft Prospect Signal Patriots’ Preference?
Watching tape of NFL draft prospects can be tedious, monotonous, and at times, grueling.
But not when it comes to Penn State’s Abdul Carter.
“I would say the tape is dynamic. There’s a lot of great qualities of a disruptive pass rusher,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel told reporters Tuesday during his pre-draft press conference at Gillette Stadium, per MassLive’s Karen Guregian. “He’s a very loose, slippery sudden player. It was a fun tape to watch.”
Carter visited the Patriots on Monday — one of just four teams he visited, including the Cleveland Browns, Tennessee Titans and New York Giants — but Vrabel didn’t get into any details about the meeting.
It’s been a rather strange build up to next week’s NFL draft for Carter, who is viewed as one of the premier blue-chip prospects in the entire draft. Carter entered the offseason recovering from a shoulder injury he sustained in his final season with the Nittany Lions and then it was revealed prior to the NFL Scouting Combine that Carter had a stress reaction in his right foot. Carter opted against having surgery on his foot.
According to Guregian, there are some “character” concerns for Carter, which might cause him to fall down draft boards. That doesn’t seem to bother Vrabel much, though.
“We don’t want to take risks. We want to be aggressive. I think there’s a difference between taking risks and being aggressive in adding quality players and people to the roster,” Vrabel said. “Certainly, the talent of the player has to be evaluated first. And then, you go through a lot of different exercises and conversations, and you figure out the type of person (he is).
“But you can’t win, and you can’t do what we want to do with just a bunch of good dudes.”
Carter very well could still be available when the Patriots get on the clock at No. 4 overall. And if he is, it will be tough for them to pass on him.
“Winners come in all shapes and sizes. We’re going to have leaders. Leaders are going to identify themselves,” Vrabel said. “The leaders are going to be the ones that define the culture. The culture will be what drives and gives you the results that we’re all after.
“So the type of player, when you get into scouting and evaluation, every team has a height, weight, speed. Then it’s our job to take analytical data and watch the tape and just figure out where they fit best for us. Maybe they’re the best ones and the right ones. That would be wonderful. But it’s a long process, and those are the things we’re going to ask the players to do — put the team first, know what to do, and play fast and aggressive and play with some speed.”