As a New England Patriots player and football coach, Mike Vrabel has done and still does a lot of things quite well.
Subtlety is not one of them.
So when it was surmised that his Saturday night post-game remarks about the depth on his roster were a veiled shot at the makeup of the team, it raised some eyebrows in New England football circles.
“I do not think we have a very deep team, so I think we have to make sure that we are preparing our football team and that we are doing everything that we can to keep our best players available,” Vrabel said after the game when asked about his decision not to play the top half of his roster in either of the first two preseason games.
Vrabel clears the air on WEEI
Vrabel, during his Monday morning appearance on WEEI-FM radio’s Greg Hill Show, made two things clear.
First, he is running the personnel department. And second, he and Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf remain in lockstep.
“We are the front office. We’re all included in this,” Vrabel said on WEEI. “I can walk it back, I’ve already talked to Eliot this morning … I’m not into subtle comments.”
Vrabel explains the personnel process
Vrabel remains in control of the roster and talked about building the kind of depth teams need to compete in the National Football League during this era.
“When you look at how you want to be constructed, we have to continue to draft very well,” the coach said. “We have to continue to develop those late-round picks, the guys you can find who can be interior offensive linemen, who can be special teams linebackers … some edge guys you can develop. I think we can always work to improve that.”
Vrabel’s 2025 draft class already paying off
After the Wolf-run 2024 draft largely collapsed outside of the selection of Drake Maye at No. 3 overall in a class Vrabel has since overhauled, Vrabel and top personnel assistant Ryan Cowden appeared to knock it out of the park in 2025.
New England’s top 10 picks from 2025 are slated to make the roster again this year.
Four of those players — tackle Will Campbell, running back TreVeyon Henderson, offensive lineman Jared Wilson and safety Craig Woodson — started as rookies, along with kicker Andy Borregales and long-snapper Julian Ashby.
