With training camp within shouting distance, I finally got around to watching the first two episodes of “Forged in Foxborough,” the “Hard Knocks” style docuseries following the 2025 Patriots from Mike Vrabel’s introductory press conference all the way through the start of the regular season.
It’s important to note that this is a team-produced docuseries airing on the team’s YouTube channel. So if you’re tapping in expecting to see behind-the-scenes conversations between Vrabel and Stefon Diggs in the wake of the PinkPowderGate, or any disagreements that may have occurred in the team’s draft war room, you will be disappointed. No shades of “Hard Knocks: Offseason” here, where the Giants were almost immediately left with egg on their face for how things played out with Saquon Barkley and the Eagles.
It’s clear through two episodes that the team is being very intentional about what footage is being included. Which, for the record, I don’t blame them for. Why would they voluntarily put themselves in a position to look bad, either in the present or down the line?
With that said, I don’t think the casual football fan is going to gravitate towards this series, as it’s basically just Pats propaganda. The production value is super high quality, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves the Patriots. But if you’re not a diehard, I’m not sure this is for you.
But woven throughout that propaganda are plenty of behind-the-scenes moments that confirm a lot of what myself and others in the local media have felt during our limited access to the team throughout the offseason program:
The Patriots are back to being a professional football operation.
Here are my takeaways from episodes one and two of “Forged in Foxborough.”
Episode 1: Building the Patriots
- If there’s one thing the team wants you to walk away with after watching the entire hour-and-13-minute debut episode of this docuseries, it’s that the foundation of this organization is completely refreshed and revitalized under the leadership of their new head coach.
The first 20 minutes of the episode is a massive montage of all things Vrabel - from highlights of him as a player and coach, to interviews from former teammates and local media expounding on the greatness of the 49-year-old. Per the montage, Vrabel is a no-nonsense guy who would do anything for the team as a player, and will always put the team first when coaching. These are themes that are woven throughout episode two as well, but they really beat you over the head with it during episode one.
Side Note: If you’re a younger Pats fan that doesn’t have any recollection of watching Vrabel’s playing career, I highly recommend just watching the first 20 minutes of this episode. There’s a reason why the guy has a red jacket as a part of the Patriots Hall of Fame. And when you see how he was as a player, it perfectly sets the scene for why he is the way he is as a coach.
- Less than two minutes into the first episode, there was a part of Vrabel’s speech during a full-squad meeting that Jerod Mayo haters will quite enjoy:
“Somebody asked me, ‘Are you worried about what went wrong last year?’ Why the f*** would I care about what happened last year? I’m worried about what’s gonna go right today, and tomorrow, and the next day. We’re not worried about what went wrong. We’re focused on what’s gonna go right, and I want you to understand that.”
Vrabel, correctly, is not looking to use anything from the ill-fated Mayo Era as an excuse for his football team in 2025. The past is the past, and what’s more important is this version of the Patriots building their new culture of accountability.
- A few minutes later, during that same full-squad meeting, Vrabel called second-year tackle Caedan Wallace to the front of the room to help him visually present a metaphor to the team on how they’re going to push players moving forward. While I don’t personally think the metaphor was that effective, the clip of this interaction got some traction on social media when the episode initially dropped. So maybe some fans were into it - I don’t know, it just didn’t work for me.
But something Vrabel said during his explanation of this interaction with Wallace stood out:
“We are gonna be along on this f****** journey with you guys. You understand that? And I don’t care whatever’s happened, or how you’ve been coached. This is how I wanna do it…”
There’s a longer message at play here about pushing each other along while all heading in the same direction towards a common goal. But tucked within that is another declaration of leaving the past in the past.
If it wasn’t already obvious from the player and coaching staff turnover that Vrabel spearheaded this offseason, it’s clear that the 2021 NFL Coach of the Year wants as much of the stink from the 2024 Patriots gone as possible.
- This nugget on Vrabel from Patriots legend Lawyer Milloy was excellent:
“I think Mike was actually the heartbeat of our locker room. Mike was a chameleon, so he knew and checked out the locker room to see - OK, who I was gonna go in and talk to, and f*** with that day. You know, he would play dominoes, slap the bones just as hard as us. You know, or you just see him go in with a cowboy hat, rocking out to country. That was Mike. You know, he was kinda like the conduit to our space.”
That’s exactly the type of quote you want to read about a man who’s about to be the head coach of your football team. Being a locker room leader has been in this guy’s blood since early on in his career, even as an unheralded free agent coming into a locker room full of big name defensive players like Milloy, Ty Law, Willie McGinest and Tedy Bruschi.
- One more Vrabel nugget that’s worth seeking out starts at 17:21, with former Texans head coach Bill O’Brien talking about how tough a coach Vrabel was on his defensive staff down in Houston. It then cuts to Vrabel mic’d up, either as the defensive coordinator or linebackers coach, and he’s riding former journeyman linebacker Kourtnei Brown for gassing out on what Vrabel describes as an undermanned defense.
Vrabel gets in Brown’s face, and explains to him that he can’t get tired right now, because they don’t have anyone else on the team that can go out and make plays. It’s a classic motivational tactic, and he’s selling it hard. “Your team needs you, you have to give it all for them” type of stuff.
Cut to Brown making a big play on defense, and his teammates all celebrating around him on the field. While Vrabel gives Brown his props on the sidelines for fighting through the fatigue to make the play, he makes sure to tell him to go give props to defensive end Christian Covington, who helped create the lane for Brown to make the play. Cut to Brown seeking out Covington on the bench, where you can see the D-lineman’s face light up for getting the recognition.
A perfect microcosm into Vrabel’s ability to cultivate a culture.
- The rest of episode one was spent showing the front office go through their draft season with trips to the Senior Bowl, East-West Shrine Bowl and NFL Scouting Combine, followed by singing the praises of the huge class of free agents brought in this offseason.
There were a couple cool scouting nuggets where they showed the staff giving great notes on guys they inevitably drafted - namely Kyle Williams and Joshua Farmer - but a lot of these sections were mostly “scout speak,” so to speak. A lot of generic things like “it’s great to get to know the player as an actual person” type stuff. And when it came to all things draft weekend, a lot of the best stuff had already been shared by the Patriots social team.
Probably could’ve saved a huge chunk of time in this episode by cutting down on this type of content. But they had to show that the revamped front office/retention of Eliot Wolf was a part of this strong new foundation, so I get it.
- Back to the part where the episode was singing the praises of the free agent signings.
Of all the mini subsections on all the different players they brought in, the most effective one, for me, was a clip they included of All-World wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase talking about new Patriots cornerback Carlton Davis III.
In the style of “Last Dance” director Jason Hehir, they played a clip for Davis of Chase explaining why he felt the Patriots defensive back was the toughest player he had matched up against in his career:
“...Only reason I’d say Carlton Davis is because he was longer than I expected. You know what I’m saying? Longer arms, and he just - he ain’t got no knee-bend. He just hunched his back over and just played defense, you know what I’m saying? So, I think I played him twice, too. He made some good plays on me, so I ain’t never gonna forget that.”
As someone who lives in this Patriots online ecosystem every single day, it has felt like Diggs, Milton Williams and Robert Spillane have been the free agent acquisitions you hear hyped up the most by fans and media this offseason. But when I hear a guy the caliber of Chase, who looked unstoppable at times last season, say Davis III is the most difficult corner he’s faced in his career, I can’t help but jump to conclusions about how good the tandem of him and All-Pro Christian Gonzalez could-and-should be together this fall.
Big words from a huge talent on a key free agent piece for the Pats.
- Some unseen Will Campbell content that got my juices flowing towards the end of the episode came during a talking head interview with the LSU-product the day after he was selected No. 4 overall:
“You have to love violence to be able to play on the offensive and defensive line, and that’s something that I like. It’s a dog-eat-dog world whenever you’re going out there. It’s either you or him, and I want it to be every time.”
I have no idea if he’s going to be able to buck the trend and be a dominant left tackle with comparatively short arms to his peers across the league. But at the very least, the guy has a flair for the dramatic with these quotes.
He’s got some Vrabel in him, no doubt.
Episode 2: The Journey Begins
- With how much episode one focused on what’s new for an organization in year six of a rebuild, I thought episode two would spend a significant amount of time talking about some of the returning talent on the roster. Guys talking about bouncing back, having to prove themselves with all the new talent around them, adjusting to the new culture, things like that.
But outside of a quick subsection on Mike Onwenu that was used as an entry into praise for right tackle Morgan Moses, the only returning star on the roster that was showcased in his own section was quarterback Drake Maye. And even then, his section was brief.
Now, this could be symptomatic of the team lacking a ton of stars, which speaks to the massive free agent class of impact players covered in episode one. But you would think a guy like Gonzalez deserves his own spotlight, right? And wouldn’t it be interesting to hear from a guy like Christian Barmore after dealing with everything he’s gone through health wise? What about a veteran like Hunter Henry? Or second year guys like Ja’Lynn Polk and Javon Baker, who will have the world’s largest microscope on everything they do this preseason.
Maybe this is forthcoming in episode three, so I’ll hold off on this being official criticism until then. But me personally, I’d like more time spent on guys like Maye, Gonzalez and Barmore than I would on Josh McDaniels. We have three “Do Your Job” documentaries expounding on his football genius. We get it.
- More on this McDaniels point.
Don’t take this the wrong way, as I’m in the camp of liking the McDaniels hire by Vrabel. I like having a stabilizing force on that side of the football that can hopefully make Maye’s life easier, putting him in positions to use his athleticism while also having schemes that limit his ability to make bad decisions. I think a year away from the game for a football savant can be a good thing, especially when that savant is spending time with offensive gurus like Sean McVay to help add pieces to his system.
But the most interesting part of the McDaniels story arc is the fact that he spectacularly flamed out in Vegas, and that he’s now coming back home to New England for a third stint as offensive coordinator. If you’re gonna give me six minutes on McDaniels, you’ve got to carve out some time on his most interesting angle.
- As I mentioned earlier, episode two spent some time talking about the impact Moses has had thus far on an offensive line in desperate need of a bounce-back season after a horrific 2024 plagued by injuries and bad coaching.
It showed clips of Moses imparting wisdom to the rest of the unit, whether it was during drills or after practice, and spliced in talking head interviews from teammates and coaches explaining how much he’s helped this offseason.
This quote from Wallace stood out in particular:
“Honestly, having Mike and Mo with these after school sessions has been, like, unprecedented knowledge. They teach us stuff that you really only learn from playing in a bunch of games.”
Wallace is giving Onwenu some shine as well, but the star of this section is Moses. I would be shocked if he’s not named a captain for this season. Even though he’s a first-year Patriot, it’s clear how much of an impact the 34-year-old is having on this roster.
Pats fans should hope that Moses is just as impactful on Sundays this fall, hopefully returning to his pre-2023 form where he missed just one game the previous eight seasons.
He’s missed three games in each of the last two seasons.
- Towards the end of episode two, we got some more Vrabel candy to chew on:
“If you guys thought that we weren’t gonna have competition, and you weren’t gonna get exactly what you earned, you signed up for the wrong team.”
Just in case you had forgotten from episode one, Vrabel’s strong new foundation built on a culture of accountability is here, and he’s going to do everything in his power to make sure his players are living by it.
It’s probably a safe bet that we’ll hear more about this culture in the weeks to come, both in forthcoming episodes and the coach-speak press conferences before almost every training camp practice.
No word yet from the Patriots on when episodes three and four of the series are set to drop.
On the football field, the first practice of training camp gets underway on Wednesday morning at Gillette Stadium.
Entry is free to the public, with gates opening at 9:15 a.m. ET.
Jones and Keefe broadcast live overlooking the practice fields at Gillette starting Wednesday at 10 a.m. The Home of Patriots Monday and Friday has training camp covered on the WEEI Network and WEEI.com.