Mike Vrabel has a reputation for being frank, sometimes to the point of sarcasm. Early indications in his tenure as New England Patriots head coach is that he expects the same forthrightness from his team, and the culture he’s building through early meetings is one that cuts out the bull crap.
Pardon the language.
Earlier this week, a video of Vrabel addressing Patriots players in a meeting leaked on social media, and he outlined five simple rules:
1. Respect the team
2. No hoods up in meetings
3. Be on time, or have a justification for once-in-a-while situations
4. No cell phones out in meetings
5. No cell phones out in the weight room
Rules 2-5 fall under the umbrella of the first declaration, but it never hurts to be specific with a new group.
Vrabel promised to “remove entitlement” from the culture within Gillette Stadium during his introductory press conference. Through OTA’s, the players are doing little more than lifting, conditioning, and studying right now – but he’s striking the right note for now.
Over two decades, the culture around the Patriots was notoriously tough. Foxborough might as well have been Annapolis for the way guys described meetings – at least during the Tom Brady era. The pendulum swung too far in the opposite direction last season, but it wasn’t for lack of toughness from former head coach Jerod Mayo, although he did remove Bill Belichick’s ‘Art of War’ quotes from hallway walls. Mayo ran a training camp of arduous, physical practices. The issue was the staff was inexperienced and disorganized, and that had a trickle-down effect on the team. The offensive line was a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces, receivers didn’t know where to line up or what routes to run for quarterback Drake Maye, and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt had no idea cornerback Marcus Jones had experience playing on offense.
Messy.
The Patriots are still without an upgrade at left tackle and months away from showing anything meaningful on the practice fields. What they do during this time of the year still matters for setting the foundation. From the outside, it looks like they’re building on sturdier ground than in 2024.
Returning running back Antonio Gibson and new center Garrett Bradbury both detailed an example of how Vrabel is keeping order through these early days. Like a Year One law school lecture, Vrabel is cold-calling on guys in meetings.
Bradbury, who played six seasons for the Minnesota Vikings before signing on in New England last month, said he was forewarned about these pop quizzes.
“A big thing I was told when I was coming in is that Coach Vrabel will ask a bunch of a questions in team meetings,” he said. “You have to know your stuff, which I love. I think that, if you have to ready to answer any question - whether it’s about rules, whether it’s about goals, whether it’s about individual plays, coaching points – I think everyone in that meeting room understands they have to be on top of their stuff.”
He hopes that will translate to a mind-meld on the field this fall.
“If you’re the left tackle and you know what the right guard’s going to do, I think you play faster,” he said.
It may be unfair to compare this spring to 2024, when the Patriots barely brought free agents from elsewhere in the league to Foxborough.
And yet, owner Robert Kraft called the last two seasons the worst in his ownership. All corners of the building have to be examined to determine whether the team will actually be better in a meaningful way this year, and that includes what’s going down in April.
What’s not going down is a lot of nonsense. Playing time hasn’t started in Foxborough, but playtime is over.