Following Saturday night’s preseason win over the Philadelphia Eagles, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel made a candid admission when asked how important it would be for Drake Maye and the rest of New England’s frontline players, who have yet to play in preseason action, to see the field in Thursday’s preseason finale against the Browns in Cleveland.
“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. “And if that means playing Thursday as part of preparation, then that is what we will do. I have not made that decision yet, but I would say that that is something that I am confident in with where we are set up currently.”
With teams needing to reduce their active rosters to a maximum of 53 players by 6 p.m. ET this Sunday, Aug. 30, and only a little over two weeks until the season opener in Seattle, were those comments about the Patriots’ lack of depth a not-so-subtle message to the front office that there is still more work to do with this roster?
Vrabel addressed that as part of his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show (full interview below).
“No, I mean we are the front office. We are all making the decisions. We’re all included in this. It was about the young guys we have to develop. You can see that the players we kept out of the game, those are the guys. And we have to be able to find some guys behind them to be backups, be the first guy in. To be the third outside linebacker. Be the third inside linebacker. Be the sixth offensive lineman. These things that are so critical. Be the third safety,” Vrabel said.
“So those are the things that we are trying to develop, and I guess that’s what I was referencing. I can walk back, and I’ve already talked to Eliot [Wolf] this morning — these aren’t issues. I’m not into subtle comments. That wasn’t that. They asked why we didn’t play the guys, and we have to have everybody we have available and then continue to develop and see some guys that went out and played like they did on Saturday night to continue to build that depth.”
Patriots HC Mike Vrabel joins LIVE @gillettestadium ! What did Vrabel think of the 2nd preseason game? Thoughts on defense?
Vrabel discusses team depth- Greg: "Is that kind of a not so subtle message to the Front Office?" #NFL #Preseason #Depth #Vrabel pic.twitter.com/wHioMnbEDW
— WEEI (@WEEI) August 24, 2026
The lack of depth has been a noticeable issue throughout training camp, highlighted by two joint practices with the Eagles last week and New England's first two preseason games. Linebacker, EDGE, offensive line and tight end especially stand out as areas of concern.
So why, after bringing in 14 veteran free agents, is the depth still so shallow?
“I think that when you look at how you want to be constructed, we have to continue to draft very well. We have to continue to develop those late-round picks, the guys that we can find that can be interior offensive linemen, that can be special teams, linebackers, which is what we’re hoping when you look at Nam [Namdi Obiazor] and Khalil [Jacobs],” Vrabel said.
“Drafted some edge guys that you can develop and that maybe haven’t played necessarily this 3-4 defense in the past but that you’re developing. That’s just kind of where we were constructed, and I think we can always work to improve that. You just know that through the course of the season you’re going to need so many of those guys just because things are going to happen and we have to be ready to play games without those frontline guys. That’s on us to be able to get these guys ready to go.”
Like any successful team, depth was an important piece of the Patriots’ story last season, and they’ll need it to be again this year if they want to replicate what they accomplished a year ago. Over the course of a 17-game season, the Patriots won’t be able to rely on their frontline players being available every week, as fortunate as they were with injuries last season.
