On Tuesday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel spoke publicly for the first time since his introductory press conference in January, meeting with the media in Indianapolis ahead of the NFL Scouting Combine.
With New England’s league-leading $123 million in cap space, along with rumored interest in some of the biggest names in free agency, the No. 1 topic of conversation for Vrabel on Tuesday was how this new regime will approach rebuilding a roster that was mostly devoid of high-end talent across the board during their 4-13 season in 2024.
“How would you describe how the team will approach free agency?” asked ESPN’s Mike Reiss.
“Hopefully aggressive,” said Vrabel. “I mean, we want to be aggressive. We want to target players that we feel like are going to help us. They’re going to be outstanding players, they’re going to be outstanding additions to the locker room and the community. And if that all fits, and the compensation fits - but I’m confident that we’ll be aggressive.
“We’ve started some of those discussions internally, and I think having different plans, and having an option-A and option-B - I mean, things are gonna change. Everybody’s looking at the same players, so we have to be ready to pivot and adjust and have a vision for each player, I would say, at each level.”
For Vrabel, the free agency approach is broken down into three levels, and he feels the Patriots are set up to have success in free agency across the board.
“There’s going to be this ‘high level,’ that things are gonna get done very quickly,” Vrabel explained. “That’ll transition then to, you know, maybe just some ‘mid-range dollars.’ And then obviously, you look at opportunities. So free agency gets broken down into, you know, compensation, and then it gets broken down into opportunity. And I feel like we’re in a position to offer both, as far as compensation and opportunity for some of these players.”
When asked what were some of the “bigger” moves the team needs to make to support 22-year-old quarterback Drake Maye, Vrabel didn’t shy away from sharing that there’s a lot of work to be done in rebuilding New England’s roster.
“Well, there’s a lot,” said Vrabel. “You know, I mean - again, I think you always talk about being able to protect him. You have to be able to, you know, have some guys that can help him on the edges and be able to make contested catches. And you don’t have to be perfect, right? You don’t have to have perfect ball placement, right?
“And those are all things that we talk about, trying to support Drake, believing that he is the, you know, the future of our franchise at quarterback. And [being] able to meet with him and talk with him and just get to know him as a person. But you have to look at the lines of scrimmage, and you look no further than the Super Bowl game, where that game was clearly won at the line of scrimmage.”
Wide receiver. Offensive line. Front seven.
If you watched the Patriots in 2024, you know these are their biggest areas of need. And it’s clear that Vrabel knows that as he heads into his first offseason as the man in charge at 1 Patriot Place.
Despite all the areas of need, Vrabel doesn’t think fans should have to wait to watch a winner again at Gillette Stadium.
“We have to improve,” said Vrabel. “I mean, I think that’s the goal. Our expectations aren’t gonna change. It’s gonna be to win the division, it’s gonna be to host home playoff games, and it’s gonna be to compete for championships. So we’re never gonna put a timetable or any sort of prediction on when that may happen, but it has to happen, and it’s gonna start April 7th when our guys come in.
“We’re gonna build a program. We’re gonna have a foundation. We’re gonna give them something to believe in and to be proud of, and hopefully they’re able to hold each other accountable and to that standard. And if not, then my job is to protect the football team.”
In a follow-up, Vrabel was asked if he gets the sense that fans locally don’t have an “appetite” for a longer rebuild process.
“Well, I don’t think anybody has a longer appetite,” said Vrabel. “We all want to win. Like, that’s why we’re here, that’s why I got hired. It’s to win. It’s to put a product on the field that they can be excited about, that they can care about, and they can support. Like, that’s the whole goal.
“They shouldn’t have to wait very long, but we also have to understand that, you know - we’re not gonna fix every issue on the first day of free agency, or we’re not gonna fill every hole on the first or second day of the draft.”
With an appetite to win now and enough cap space to bring in a bevy of new players, Nicole Yang of The Boston Globe asked if Vrabel and his front office would feel comfortable paying “above market value” to secure the players they want this offseason.
“Well, I mean, sure - like, I like to shop like everybody else,” said Vrabel. “And so, when you go, and there’s only one of a certain car, maybe you have to pay a little bit more for that one car because there’s only one of them.
“When you start to get into a range where you feel like there’s an area where players are comparable, and you like three or four in a certain area for a certain role, you may not have to overspend. But it’s free agency, I think that everybody overspends sometimes in free agency.”
The approach, on its surface, sounds a lot like former head coach Jerod Mayo saying the team is ready to “burn some cash” on The Greg Hill Show shortly after his hiring last offseason. And unfortunately for Patriots fans, that didn’t happen.
We’ll see if Vrabel’s similar-yet-more-measured message comes to fruition for the franchise this time around.
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