Mike Vrabel is back in Foxborough, and his first official business as coach of the Patriots was his introductory press conference on Monday.
Vrabel was hired as the franchise’s 16th head coach over the weekend as New England moved quickly to replace Jerod Mayo after a disappointing season.
The Patriots’ coaching search quickly centered around Vrabel, the 2021 NFL Coach of the Year with Tennessee and a franchise Hall of Famer who won three Super Bowls as a Patriots linebacker in the 2000s.
“In the end, it was clear to me, and to my family, and my soul, that this was the place that I wanted to be,” Vrabel said. “[I’m] excited, excited to get to work, excited to meet the people in this building that have made this special, find out what they need, find out how I can help them, how we can enhance the things that they do well, and then find out what the areas of focus are and get to work.”
Vrabel takes over a team in the midst of a rebuild after consecutive four-win seasons, with a big job on his hands as he looks to turn around a struggling franchise. But Vrabel also has some resources to work with: an exciting young quarterback in Drake Maye that looks like a franchise cornerstone, a No. 4 overall pick to help build through the draft, and more cap space than any other team to pursue free agents in the offseason. Vrabel highlighted the offensive line as a key place to improve.
“You look at the teams that are able to protect the QB and dictate the flow of the game offensively, making sure that, up front, we’re sound, we’re strong,” Vrabel said. “Whether that’s through free agency or through the draft, that’s something that’s critical.”
Vrabel took questions for more than 30 minutes before punctuating his final thoughts with a smile.
“Time to get to work.”
You can watch a replay of Vrabel’s press conference below. Read on to see our takeaways as Vrabel discussed his plans for his coaching staff, following in the steps of Bill Belichick, and more.
Read more about Mike Vrabel’s hiring from the Globe
- Christopher L. Gasper: Mike Vrabel will charm you and cut you down, but he will coach his way, not the Patriot Way
- What Mike Vrabel reportedly told Tom Brady before taking Patriots job
- Patriots past and present laud Mike Vrabel, with one conclusion: He is about accountability
- Looking back at Mike Vrabel’s Patriots playing career, from defensive dominance to Super Bowl scores
- On Football:
- Four things to know about Mike Vrabel’s coaching style as he becomes the Patriots’ new head coach
- Ex-Titans player sends message to Patriots about what to expect from Mike Vrabel
- Josh McDaniels, Wes Welker, and seven other candidates for Mike Vrabel’s Patriots coaching staff
Robert Kraft on what made Mike Vrabel the right coach
Robert Kraft introduced Mike Vrabel as the next coach of the Patriots on Monday, and explained some of Vrabel’s selling points as he takes charge of the team.
“Mike’s history with the NFL ... his experience embodies what’s great about the NFL,” Kraft said.” He joined us in 2001 as an unheralded free agent. He had never started a game, he had been in the league four years, and he became a starter those next four years and we were privileged to win three Super Bowls in that time. His impact, because of his work ethic and his competitive drive and his leadership skills, made it very special, those four years. Those personal characteristics also made him a very high-performing coach.
“In the interview process, Mike showed us he had a very deep understanding of our current team, and most importantly, he had a clear and focused strategy of how to get us back to a championship way that is so important to all of us, but also something that I think our fan base really deserves and expects.”
Vrabel: “It was clear to ... my soul that this was the place”
Mike Vrabel gave his opening thoughts on taking over the Patriots, explaining that there was only one place that he wanted to be during this job search.
“In the end, it was clear to me, and to my family, and my soul, that this was the place that I wanted to be,” Vrabel said. “[I’m] excited, excited to get to work, excited to meet the people in this building that have made this special, find out what they need, find out how I can help them, how we can enhance the things that they do well, and then find out what the areas of focus are and get to work.
“I want to galvanize our football team, I want to galvanize this building, I want to galvanize our fans. And the most important thing are the players; I want to provide a program that provides their ownership but also their accountability of each other, and one they’ll be proud to be a part of and they’ll fight for.”
Vrabel also offered some thoughts on the importance of culture and what he’s looking to bring to Foxborough.
“You guys will ask me questions about culture, which I’m happy to talk about and discuss,” Vrabel said. “One thing I’ve realized about culture is, you’ll find out what your culture is like when your family or your team is at your lowest. It’s not when you’re winning Super Bowls or 10-1 — because then everyone’s waving towels and they’re happy and excited to come to work. But when you get hit in the mouth or the chips are against you, then you can take a snapshot of what your team looks like, and you’ll find out what kind of culture you have.
“But that culture is going to be built on winning, a competitive spirit throughout our roster and throughout our coaches and our staff, and the ability to put the team first and care about somebody other than yourself. I’m excited to do that and I’m excited to get to work. But everybody in this building is going to believe that their job is critically important to our success.”
Vrabel discusses relationship with Eliot Wolf, dodges question on roster control
Vrabel has made some waves in the past about his reluctance to collaborate with the front office, and when he was asked directly if he will have control over the roster, he was a bit evasive on the subject.
“I think the most important thing is that there’s a shared organizational vision for what we want to do and how we want to work and how we want to acquire players,” Vrabel said. “There’s numerous ways to acquire players, through free agency, trade, draft, post-draft process, after training camp ... again, I’m just excited to sit down with Eliot and his staff, I’ve met with Eliot more over the weekend, I’ve had conversations with him, but I’ve got to sit down with his staff, figure out where we’re at and what we’re going to do, and I’m confident that those types of decisions are going to sort themselves out.”
Wolf and the front office are expected to remain in place for 2025. Vrabel, for his part, spoke positively about the collaborative process.
“We don’t want to always be on the same page, that’s not the environment we want to create, but we want to have a shared vision and there’s different ways to get there,” Vrabel said. “I’m embracing that everyone’s going to have a different personality, I don’t want our staff to be like me, I don’t want all our players to be similar. We’re going to have diverse ideas, and that’s critical, and to have those types of conversations is something I’m looking forward to.”
Vrabel says plans for coordinators are “far from solidified”
One big discussion point after Vrabel’s hiring has been the makeup of his assistants as the new coach looks to round out his staff in Foxborough. As of Monday, nothing is set in stone.
“That’s far from solidified,” Vrabel said. “We want to put the best talented coaches in front of these players. When they stand in front of these players, I want them to embrace what every coach is teaching, and I’ll tell you this: As long as I’m the head coach here, our coaches will have three simple jobs. They want to teach, they want to develop, and they want to inspire our players by making a connection. We’re going to make a strong connection with our players so we can coach them and we can push them. I’ve really believed in this system, and I believe in having great teachers, having great developers, and also coaches that will inspire our men by making a connection so that they know exactly what makes them tick.”
Vrabel also discussed his own strengths in making those connections through the diversity of his experiences as a player.
“I do feel that the shared experience that I had as a player,” Vrabel explained, “one that, as Robert mentioned, didn’t start a game for four years and made the roster because of special teams and occasionally playing on third down, and being a backup at more than one position; to a free agent that took an opportunity to come here and started for the next 10 years; to becoming a veteran player who was expected to produce at a high level; to one that, as he got older, was traded to another team that then had to start over, had to act as a coach. I feel like every player that sits in that meeting room, I can, at some point in my career, relate to and have a conversation about.”
Vrabel on developing Drake Maye: “Put great people around him”
One of Vrabel’s most significant tasks will be continuing to develop Drake Maye, New England’s apparent quarterback of the future.
“Put great people around him,” Vrabel said. “I would say that my involvement will be as it relates to game management and situational awareness and where we are on the football field and trying to develop him as a leader of the offense. The quarterback, when they call the play, you want everyone to believe it’s going to score a touchdown, with that type of emphasis on how everything’s going to operate. Drake is going to be his own person, but I’m going to give him some things that are necessary for us to win football games.
“We have to be a very efficient passing football team, and when you look at, statistically, what wins in the National Football League, our ability to affect the other team’s quarterback and our ability to provide for an efficient quarterback and passing games is a high contributor to success. There’s a lot of ways to do that: by protecting the middle of the pocket and all those things we’re going to talk about as we move forward, how we protect the football, how we’re aggressive but not reckless, understanding where we are in the game and the situational awareness that I feel like I’ve developed over six years and my past year in Cleveland.”
Vrabel highlights offensive line as a focus this offseason
Asked about the team’s priorities for rebuilding the roster, Vrabel’s first concern seems to be up front.
“You look at the teams that are able to protect the QB and dictate the flow of the game offensively, making sure that, up front, we’re sound, we’re strong,” Vrabel said. “Whether that’s through free agency or through the draft, that’s something that’s critical. The D-linemen, they’re getting better every year, they’re getting more disruptive, they’re getting bigger, they’re getting more powerful, so as they try to affect our QB, we have to have some things that counterbalance that. Obviously personnel is the first way, and then scheme and style and tempo and cadence and all those things, if our players can handle it, we’ll shift, we’ll motion, we’ll go with different cadences, we’ll go on the ball, we’ll do the things that cause conflict.
“We’re going to try to just focus on players that we feel like fit us, fit into what we’re doing, that are willing to commit to the team, and then also try to find players that will hold each other accountable.”
Vrabel on what made the Patriots job so appealing, following Belichick
Vrabel had plenty of interest from teams in need of a head coach this offseason. What made New England his top choice?
“I think the ability to have open dialogue with Robert and Jonathan [Kraft] was something that was critical,” Vrabel said. “Eliot and his staff, obviously what I believe, and what everybody else believes, is a young and dynamic quarterback. We have some youth on the roster, we have some veteran players that have kind of seen both sides of it and will help me and help our players get back to that success and understand how hard it is.”
Asked if he ever envisioned himself returning to New England as head coach during his playing days, Vrabel explained how crucial it was to start his coaching career elsewhere.
“I think it was important for me to go somewhere else, to start another coaching journey,” Vrabel said. “The opportunity at some point probably presented itself to be here coaching, but I felt like it was important to forge my own path somewhere else. And if all those experiences led me back here at the right time and the right opportunity, then that is going to be what’s meant to be. I think that when I started my coaching career, I said, man, let’s see where we can go and take this and work with other people, and if it’s the right time to go back, it’ll be the right time.”
Vrabel was also asked about his thoughts on following in the footsteps of Bill Belichick, his longtime coach.
“I think it’s unique, obviously,” Vrabel said. “Let’s be real for a minute: Having played for him, competing against him, and also having a friendship with Bill along the way ... I think it’s special, it’s unique, having played here, knowing Bill, but again, we need to focus on things that are going to help us win now, help our players, and like I said, galvanize the building, the team, and our fan base. There’s also things that I’m going to try to explain to our players, that there are things that are interesting and things that are important. I think me having played for Bill is interesting; I just don’t know if it’s important to helping our players.”
Amin Touri can be reached at amin.touri@globe.com.