“Just the interviews,” Vrabel said when asked what is the most useful aspect of the combine. “The drills haven’t changed in 30 years, so it’s the same drills. Just want to talk to these guys, get to know them briefly, and see how they act in this setting.”
“We want to just see them be their authentic self and be genuine,” Vrabel continued. “See how they respond and pivot to different questions coming from different ways.”
Along with prospects interviews, another significant part of the combine is what happens in the bars and restaurants around Indianapolis regarding free agents and trades. Although teams aren’t permitted to speak directly to pending free agents until March 10, almost every top executive and agent is in Indy this week. This allows teams to gauge the market for prospective veterans who might be available this offseason.
According to Over the Cap, the Patriots have a projected league-high $128 million in cap space heading into free agency.
“I’m confident that we’ll be aggressive,” Vrabel said on Tuesday.
Here are five takeaways from Vrabel’s various media availabilities: a 15-minute press conference, a conversation with Patriots.com, and a 15-minute scrum with local reporters.
1. Vrabel Details Free Agency Approach and Pitching Free Agents
During his Tuesday press tour, the Patriots head coach told several stories from his experiences as a player and coach. One of the stories was about being roommates with college teammate Orlando Pace at the 1997 combine, with Pace going on to be the No. 1 overall pick while Vrabel was selected with the 91st overall pick by the Steelers.
Another anecdote that Vrabel shared was when he arrived in Houston for his first NFL coaching gig on current Boston College head coach Bill O’Brien’s staff with the Texans. After coaching three seasons at his alma mater, Vrabel was hired to be the Texas linebackers coach in 2014 and eventually rose to defensive coordinator before being named Titans head coach.
“My first time coaching in the NFL, I was working for Bill O’Brien. They had this field that was six foot by six foot, and it was grass. I said, ‘Why do you guys have grass in the dome?’ They said, ‘Well, I think it’d be good for free agents. I said, ‘The only thing free agents care about is green, and it’s not grass.’ So that’s a good place to start,” Vrabel said.
Vrabel kept it real about the business of the NFL, with coaches and players working in the league to provide for their families. Vrabel admitted that competing for top free agents starts with competing financially with other teams that target the same players in a limited talent pool.
“You got to be able to pay them according to the market and what somebody else is willing to pay them,” Vrabel continued. “I think you talk about our program, what we want to do, the people we have in our building, and the vision we have for it. How we’re going to use them, players that we’ve developed in the past. I think the great thing is testimonial: here’s what we’ve done, here’s what we will do, here’s where we see you fitting in. If that works for you, then let’s make it happen.”
The other tidbit from Vrabel on the Patriots approach to free agency is that New England plans to use free agency to fill holes on the roster so that the team can draft the best player available rather than potentially reaching for a prospect in the draft to fill a glaring need.
“We want to add enough players in free agency, ‘Here’s the roster, we can line up and play tomorrow.’ Then let the draft come to us,” Vrabel told Sirius XM.
After striking out on some of their top free-agent targets last offseason, it’ll be interesting to see if Vrabel can recruit talent to the Patriots.
2. Vrabel Gives Thoughts on the Patriots Approach With the No. 4 Overall
With free agency before April’s draft, it’s the first shoe to drop in rebuilding the Patriots. Still, the focus in Indianapolis is also on New England’s plans for the No. 4 overall draft pick.
In reality, the team’s draft boards are far from solidified. With the player interviews, medicals, Pro Day and combine workouts, and 30 visits still to come, the Pats are a ways away from knowing who they’d like to select in the first round and beyond, while Vrabel left the door open for potentially moving around the draft board.
“I don’t think anybody could say for certain what they’re going to do right now. People always ask who are you guys going to take? Tell us who goes one, two, and three. Then, I’ll have a better idea to be able to tell you what we may do,” Vrabel said. “We will always listen, and we would want to entertain any offer that somebody had that we felt could strengthen our football. To say what that’s going to be right now, I don’t think we would have a great idea of what that would be.”
As for who will have the final say on roster decisions this offseason, Vrabel said, “I wouldn’t have wanted to be the head coach here if I wasn’t comfortable in my impact on the roster.”
“We want to continue to have great conversations with the personnel staff, with me, with Stretch [VP of Football Operations and Strategy John Streicher], with coaching. We’re all just trying to find ways to bring the right players in here,” Vrabel continued. “Again, we need to strengthen the roster. We understand that and we have some really good conversations about how we get there.”
3. The ‘Plan’ is for DC Terrell Williams to Call Defensive Plays, More on McDaniels
Since this was Vrabel’s first formal press conference since filling out his coaching staff, the Patriots head coach was asked about tabbing Josh McDaniels and Terrell Williams as offensive and defensive coordinators.
On Tuesday, Vrabel shared that Williams will be the primary defensive play-caller and that the Pats HC was in contact with McDaniels throughout the 2024 season. Williams was with Vrabel in Tennessee, creating an obvious coaching connection, but there were some questions about Vrabel’s background with McDaniels beyond overlapping with him as a player in New England. While working as a consultant in Cleveland last season, Vrabel revealed that he had “numerous conversations” with McDaniels, who was a coaching free agent after leaving Las Vegas.
“Having had communications with Josh [McDaniels] in my role with Cleveland, he wasn’t under contract with a team, so we had numerous conversations. Interviewed a handful of great candidates, and in the end, felt like Josh was the best fit to lead our offense,” Vrabel said.
As for Williams, there was some speculation that Vrabel might call the Patriots defense himself, with Williams being a first-time play-caller. On Tuesday, Vrabel confirmed that the “plan” is for Williams to call the defense as a full-fledged defensive coordinator.
“That’s the plan. He’s going to be the defensive coordinator. He’s going to call defenses. He’s an aggressive-minded coach who has coached really aggressive defensive linemen. That’s his background.”
Although the Patriots head coach wouldn’t show his schematic cards, the hope here is that Williams and Vrabel will run a more attack-minded, one-gapping defense next season.
4. Vrabel on QB Drake Maye’s Mobility, Designed Runs, and Offensive Innovations
During an exclusive interview with Patriots.com, Vrabel shed some light on the direction of the offense with McDaniels taking over as coordinator for quarterback Drake Maye and company.
Vrabel didn’t want to share too many details about McDaniels’s plan for the offense, but the Patriots head coach suggested that New England will be amplifying Maye’s athleticism by incorporating designed quarterback runs and moving pockets (bootlegs) moving forward.
“His ability to extend plays that began in the pocket is the first place that you look. Looking for ways to exit the pocket, not going out the back of the pocket. I don’t think anything good comes of that. Being able to step up and slide and protect the football. Be strong with the football to be able to extend plays to remain a passer throughout the down is something we’re going to talk a lot about,” Vrabel said. “There will be designed runs. There will be designed move-the-pocket passes, but we want to be careful about how many times we ask him to be the primary ball carrier.”
The Patriots head coach is aware that one of Maye’s superpowers is his mobility and ability to make plays off-script, so the plan seems to be to magnify those strengths.
