Technically, Mike Vrabel is not part of the Bill Belichick coaching tree since he was never on a Belichick staff. But Vrabel did play under Belichick for eight years in New England, and it’s clear that at least a few Belichickian attributes have seeped into Vrabel’s coaching style.
That included a few of Vrabel’s answers during his first Patriots Monday interview of the season with The Greg Hill Show Monday morning. Vrabel will join WEEI every week throughout the season. Listen to Monday’s full interview above.
While Vrabel was happy to expound on topics such as the leadership of quarterback Drake Maye, the development of rookie offensive tackle Will Campbell, and the play of his running backs, there were a few other topics he clearly had little interest in discussing at length, opting instead to give terse answers that would make his former coach proud.
Courtney Cox asked Vrabel if the decision to not play wide receiver Stefon Diggs in Friday’s preseason opener was just precautionary as he returns from a torn ACL.
“Coach’s decision,” Vrabel answered.
Chris Curtis later asked if Vrabel talked to the team at all about Tom Brady’s statue unveiling overshadowing the current team, and if Brady talked to the team at all while he was in town.
“Never said a word, and no he didn’t,” Vrabel replied.
The third Belichickian answer came when Curtis asked Vrabel why the organization decided to trade away Joe Milton after one season and go with veteran Josh Dobbs as the backup quarterback behind Maye.
“Just another coach’s decision,” Vrabel said. “Felt like this is what was best for our team. Trying to do what’s best for the team.”
The first answer, about Diggs, is perhaps the most interesting, as it leaves the most to interpretation. It could be nothing; holding Diggs out, even if he was healthy enough to play, could in fact just be a “coach’s decision.” But that two-word answer also opens the door to speculation that perhaps there was something else going on. It would have been easy for Vrabel to add a “just playing it safe” or “just giving him a little more time before he plays in a game,” but didn’t.
The second answer, about Brady, makes sense. Brady probably couldn’t have talked to the Patriots even if he wanted to due to the restrictions the NFL has put on him because he is part-owner of another team, the Las Vegas Raiders. And Vrabel probably didn’t feel the need to talk to his team about Brady’s statue or his legacy before a preseason game.
The third answer, about the Milton trade, is probably just a case of Vrabel not wanting to talk about something that’s already in the past. Still, it’s hard not to hear Belichick when he drops two “best for the team” references seconds apart. Milton, by the way, struggled in the Cowboys’ preseason opener on Saturday, throwing for just 143 yards on 29 pass attempts (under 5 yards per attempt).