Mike Vrabel is going to make the Patriots better, but it's up to the players to make this team truly successful

Boston Globe

22-07-2025

But Vrabel, of all people, as a former player, knows a coach can only drive success so far. It's still about the players, their ability, their improvement, and their execution. That's the engine of NFL success. So, Vrabel Vibes alone aren't going to transform the Patriots into a 10- or 11-win team. Sorry.
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Vrabel the Coach will undoubtedly make this team better. But the Patriots would benefit even more from guys that emerge like Vrabel the Player, circa 2001, if they're going to escape the gravitational pull of resetting and rebuilding to soar.
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Vrabel can point the way, but the players have to walk the path.
'Yeah, for sure, at the end of the day, it always comes down to us,' said All-Pro cornerback Christian Gonzalez. 'We're the ones out there playing. We're the ones out there having to win and make plays. So, it all comes down to us. They can coach us. They can teach us all the techniques, all the tools, all the coverages, but we've got to go out there and execute. So, we've got to be better.'
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The unbridled optimism generated by Vrabel's presence is understandable. He's a proven winner as a player and a coach. He's a familiar face whose visage adorns the outside of the Patriots Hall of Fame and whose playing career put him inside it. He sports ties to and embodied the Patriot Way, even if he once joked as coach of the Tennessee Titans, 'Isn't that the street the movie theater is on?' in response to this scribe.
There's no question that Vrabel, the team's third head coach in three seasons, is a significant upgrade over his predecessor, neophyte Jerod Mayo. One and done, Mayo contributed to his demise with
But the primary culprit in his undoing was a wholly inadequate roster that was the worst in the NFL, surrounding a rookie quarterback in Drake Maye. Through free agency and the draft, the Patriots and holdover executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf
The draft brought left tackle (we think) Will Campbell, a dynamic home run threat in running back TreVeyon Henderson, and a promising pass catcher in Kyle Williams. Free agent shopping provided proven reinforcements in Stefon Diggs, Milton Williams, Harold Landry, Robert Spillane, Carlton Davis, Morgan Moses, and Garrett Bradbury.
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If most of those additions pan out and Maye — the real Human Vessel of Hope — takes the expected leap forward under offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, then Vrabel boasts much more moldable clay to shape a winner than the desiccated detritus of 2024.
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The players have fully embraced Vrabel, his personality, and his messaging. That's a win. But to win more in 2025, the players have the most vital part to play.
'I think it falls back to that old saying of, 'Players play and coaches coach,' ' said special teams maven/safety Brenden Schooler. ' … The coaches can only do so much, but as long as the leaders who are supposed to be leaders on the team are your best players on the field, then those guys are going to raise the standard and raise the bar.'
A coach trying to inspire a turnaround is part preacher, part teacher, and part parent. Vrabel must get his players to believe to coax them past their limits and limitations.
As such, he's not going to confess that his impact as a coach is muted by how talented the players are.
'My job, my biggest job and one of my most important jobs, is to try to get the individual to be able to maximize their earning potential within what we're trying to do as a football team, right?'
But he did address it this offseason
Ultimately, the job of any coach is to squeeze the most out of the talent they're handed. Vrabel has a proven track record. You don't go to an AFC Championship game in 2019 and win 2021 AP Coach of the Year without the services of a premium quarterback (no offense, Ryan Tannehill) without being able to do so.
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With his cutting wit, Vrabel cuts the figure of a kinder, gentler, modern version of Bill Parcells. Vrabel has zero problem dressing down a player or a media member in the name of accountability.
'I think Coach Vrabel brings a different vibe … He brings a different vibe from the years previous where it's not, you're not scared, but you know like he's not messing around,' said Schooler.
'If you're not on your P's and Q's, and you're not doing exactly what you're asked to do, how you're asked to do it, then I don't think guys are going to be sticking around long … But there's also the excitement that he brings, and the energy that he brings because being a former player he knows the difficulties that we have to go through. So, to have him at the helm, I think it's going to be beneficial for us.'
Beneficial, yes. Completely determinative of the team's success in 2025. Unlikely.
Folks should've been disabused of the erroneous notion of the coach as organizational centerpiece during Belichick's four seasons post-Brady.
So, be excited, be hopeful, be optimistic.
But if the uptick in player ability doesn't match the upgrade in coaching, then Vrabel's record will be closer to Belichick's and Mayo's than fulsome forecasts of nine, 10, or 11 wins.
Christopher L. Gasper is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at