There’s a lot that’s new for Patriots players participating in Organized Team Activities (OTAs) this week, from names on the roster and coaching staff to different concepts in all three phases of the game.
Recently signed linebacker Harold Landry may not be well-acquainted with the hallways around Gillette Stadium, but he really knows the guy playing the music from the speakers hanging around doorways. Landry played six seasons with the Tennessee Titans under Mike Vrabel. He’s a big part of why he wanted to sign with New England upon his release this offseason, and has a lot to say about what players who don’t know Vrabel well can expect him in Foxborough.
“He wants everybody to be excited when they come to work. He’s big on that. He’s big on energy. That’s just who he is. Everybody looks at him as this head coach, but he’s really just one of the boys – a locker room guy – and I really mean that,” he said. “He wants to get to know you, know about your family, and everything that goes along with being in a relationship with you, and he’s the same guy every day, too. He’s a very consistent person. He’s never going to switch it up on you, and that’s what you can expect.”
According to Landry, Vrabel operates with a kind of golden rule approach as a head coach.
“He’s big on treating you how you treat the team. You treat the team the team with respect, he’s got nothing but respect for you,” he said.
Returning cornerback and special teamer Marcus Jones echoed Landry’s comments with his own observations about his new head coach’s attitude through two days of OTAs. He first noted Vrabel’s music playing through the hallways, (his taste: lots of different genres).
“He brings that excitement. He’s also one of those guys where, whatever we’re doing, he’s like to be hands-on,” he said.
Jones said the Patriots have already started some installation of the defense they plan to run in 2025, but shied away from specific concepts.
Terrell Williams, who will be leading the charge on defense as coordinator, is also no stranger to Landry. He worked on Vrabel’s staff for several years while he played in Tennessee, and Landry praised the dynamic the coaches demonstrated there. He said once “the writing was one the wall” in Tennessee, ahead of his eventual March 7th release from the team, he was impressed by the staff he saw Vrabel assembling in New England.
“They’re definitely a tight-knit group, and I like that. You can expect them to – throughout the season, stuff’s going to happen – and it’s nice to know this staff is going to stick together, he said.
Vrabel’s Titans teams made it to the playoffs for three straight seasons from 2019 to 2021, including an appearance in the AFC Championship game in the 2019 season. As a part of those teams, Landry attributed their success to both the culture built by the head coach and the process of preparation the staff put the team through ahead of game days.
“We were such a close-knit group. We really valued each other and played hard for each other. We never wanted to let each other down and I think that showed on film, on tape,” he said. “But also, I feel like one of the main jobs for a head coach is to make sure your team’s prepared situationally, and all I know is, as long as I played for Vrabes, there was never a situation I wasn’t prepared for. I don’t care what the score was in the fourth quarter, I don’t know, we just always had this feeling that we were going to pull this out, no matter what the score was going into the fourth [quarter]. We just always found a way to win.”
Vrabel will have his work cut out for him as he tries to pull the New England franchise out of a tailspin that’s led to back-to-back four-win seasons. It’s a different situation than he inherited in Tennessee, where the team had previously won nine games in back-to-back seasons. But just as Landry seems to know what he signed up for reuniting with his old coach, Vrabel knows the expectations from ownership and fans around New England. The start of OTAs make the first step in the marathon of the NFL calendar year.