Cool Link REISS: How Mike Vrabel galvanized Patriots to top of AFC in a year

[Ian]

Good article for those who might not have seen it:

How Mike Vrabel galvanized Patriots to top of AFC in a year

Vrabel had a clear vision of the Patriots' future when hired in January. Now, they are competing again.

www.espn.com

 

[Huckleberry1]

Great article, Thanks Ian.

 

[pazrul72]

Mostly your typical hey these moves we did are working out so everything is great fluff piece but one thing about Vrables leadership that really stuck out to me is the 4 h's. Hometown, Heartbreak, Hero, and Hope. I can 100% see how those things and having to talk about them would have most guys uncomfortable at first but if you get the entire team to buy in and share them honestly and openly could make you go hmm didn't know that about him, that's interesting, and creating the kinds of bonds you see where 53 guys are willing to fight and die for each other. The biggest thing I see and love about this team for why they are winning, more then any stat you can throw out there, is the 2001 vibe where they may not be the best on any given Sun but you get the best team effort possible every given Sun. Sounds to me Vrable has just the right blend to get thru to today's players, tough on details and getting things right, but showing genuine care and concern about who they are as men at the same time.

 

[JoeSixPat]

For me, the bigger and better aspect of this is that he's returned the Patriots to being one of the top teams for free agents.

He's done this in less than one season (no matter what happens from here) and rather than waste all their cap space last year when they had to overpay, they wisely opted to save that for later, when they would presumably return to respectability. We all know that the Pats were snubbed by various high profile free agents this off season.

At the very least that's a thing of the past.

As it stands I can see some players actually taking a discount to play here, so as good as we are, we're on the path to greatness when we'll see some additional upgrades and signings.

So this isn't just a one year thing - this is turning around a big ship that had quickly sunk into one of the teams players DON'T want to play for - Vrabel has really rescued the franchise.

 

[Ring 6]

For me, the bigger and better aspect of this is that he's returned the Patriots to being one of the top teams for free agents.

He's done this in less than one season (no matter what happens from here) and rather than waste all their cap space last year when they had to overpay, they wisely opted to save that for later, when they would presumably return to respectability. We all know that the Pats were snubbed by various high profile free agents this off season.

At the very least that's a thing of the past.

As it stands I can see some players actually taking a discount to play here, so as good as we are, we're on the path to greatness when we'll see some additional upgrades and signings.

So this isn't just a one year thing - this is turning around a big ship that had quickly sunk into one of the teams players DON'T want to play for - Vrabel has really rescued the franchise.

They really kind of did use all of the cap space this year, because the chunk they didn’t use this year Carrie’s forward to cover year 2 of this years free agents. You can’t spend as much as they had to spend on top guys because of the increase from year 1 to year 2.
Without the 25 cap carrying over they would be over the 26 cap