How Patriots’ Mike Vrabel Addressed Trade Rumors Involving Titans Owner

Mike Vrabel didn’t exactly clear the air on trade deadline rumors involving his past and present employers.

After the deadline passed without the New England Patriots adding anybody, reports suggested one potential trade partner wouldn’t play ball. Tennessee Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk was allegedly “unwilling” to help out her former head coach by negotiating with New England. Mike Giardi of the Boston Sports Journal claimed last week that Strunk “continues to think too much about how things ended with Vrabel.”

Vrabel didn’t confirm or deny Strunk’s deadline actions when bluntly responding to a question about her on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”

“I haven’t talked to Amy since the day she fired me,” Vrabel said on Monday morning. “Her name and my name should not be in the same sentence together ’cause I haven’t talked to her since the day she fired me.”

NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry disputed reports about Tennessee giving New England the cold shoulder. The insider said the two AFC teams talked before the deadline, with the Patriots pursuing linebacker Dre’Mont Jones before the Titans traded him to the Baltimore Ravens.

“Tennessee was, in fact, willing to negotiate with New England despite the franchise’s history with Vrabel,” Perry wrote. “Just couldn’t get anything done.”

Vrabel took the high road before and after the Patriots played the Titans in Week 7, refusing to label the matchup a revenge game. But he and Strunk apparently didn’t catch up when the 2021 Coach of the Year returned to Nissan Stadium.

The Patriots didn’t acquire anyone from the Titans or elsewhere before last Tuesday’s deadline. Vrabel explained the team’s general approach to WEEI.

“Everybody in the personnel department worked and tried to be diligent,” he said. “We didn’t feel like just adding players to add players. There were conversations about different things, and it just didn’t work out.”