Patriots News 1-19, With Vrabel In Place, Next Are the Coordinators
Follow us
Follow Us
🕑 Read Time: 12 minutes
Posted Under: New England Patriots
HOME > Patriots Blog > New England Patriots
Good morning. Here are your Patriots News, 1-19, and NFL notes. Well, the worst kept secret in the country, except maybe anything in Washington (that’s the government, not the team), was that the New England Patriots hired their new head coach, Mike Vrabel. And it was the smart choice for the Krafts.
I’ll be the first to admit that I was intrigued to the nth degree by the thought of Ben Johnson coaching Drake Maye and the offense. I think he will be a great head coach, but we don’t know yet. And the Krafts have already flamed out with a first-time head coach, so I understand if they were a bit gunshy to do it again. And who knows? Perhaps Johnson interviewed and decided he didn’t want to come to New England.
But Vrabel brings that no-nonsense culture that, in my opinion, is precisely what this team needs. His teams are tough and physical, and they don’t beat themselves with the self-inflicted BS that has infected this team for the past couple of years. He said the best comment he ever got from another team’s head coach was, ‘Your team plays its a$$ off!’
And one of the things he said at his welcoming press conference got my ears perked up. He said he was taking away the entitlement of this team. And I’m sure there is more to that statement than meets the eye. And maybe we’ll find out if there is more to the story.
Now, Vrabel’s job is to put together a coaching staff to turn things around. He won’t be calling plays in; the coordinators on both sides of the ball must have his trust, so his picks for coordinators must be spot-on. He’ll advise, assist, and be there but prefers to be a CEO type. But he is a hands-on coach. He’ll get involved wherever he feels he needs to as a teacher and mentor.
There are some interesting names for coordinators on the defensive and offensive sides of the ball. Since most people have decided who the offensive coordinator will be, we’ll start with the defensive coordinator.
Defensive Coordinator Possibilities: So, I think, first off, Demarcus Covington is gone, and since he already interviewed for the Bengals DC open position, I would say he won’t be back. I’ll say this: Covington was an excellent DL coach. I think this promotion was one he wasn’t ready for.
He’ll probably be an excellent DC someday, but he needs more time. On the subject of Covington, I was surprised that the job wasn’t offered to Steve Belichick. He was offered a demotion of sorts. And seeing the job he did with Washington shows that the decision was a mistake. But I digress…
We know Vrabel would love to have Shane Bowen back with him, but he is still under contract with the Giants. However, the ownership said they weren’t happy with the defense last year, so I wouldn’t completely rule it out.
Jim Schwartz: One of the most respected coaches in the NFL, Schwartz loves to be aggressive with the front four. He’s been the Browns DC for the past two years; he was with the Eagles before that for five years. In 2023, he was the NFL’s Assistant Coach of the Year. He worked with Vrabel in Tennessee.
Patrick Graham: Graham has been the defensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders since 2022 and was the DC with the Giants and Dolphins. He coached both linebackers and defensive line under Belichick and likes to mix up the looks of his fronts like Belichick did. His defenses aren’t a “we do what we do” unit. They are game plan-specific.
Lou Anarumo: The Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator since 2019, Anarumo was fired in January. His defense was a big reason the Bengals reached Super Bowl LVI. Anarumo runs a versatile scheme and will explore different looks with his coverages.
Other names to consider are Chris Harris, Ephraim Banda, and Ryan Crow. I would really like to see Schwartz come to New England. He’s an outstanding Defensive Coordinator and has the same tough demeanor as Vrabel.
Offensive Coordinators:
Everyone who thinks it WON’T be Josh McDaniels, raise your hands. Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Thought so. Look, McDaniels is an excellent OC. He was outstanding during the Brady years. He knew how to find weaknesses in opposing teams’ defenses and had a pretty fair track record of exploiting them.
He’s a great teacher; he worked with Jimmy G., Jacoby Brissett, and look what he did with Mac Jones in his rookie season. If he hadn’t left for the Raiders’ job, the Jones story may have ended differently.
And the Raiders’ job is precisely why he would be a great choice. Because no one will break down the McDaniels’ front door and offer Josh a head coaching gig, his longevity is precisely why. These innovative, young coaches could light it up for a year or two. And then? Gone to a head coaching gig.
McDaniels spent a year visiting with college coaches who are offensive gurus. So, he could bring all that to meld his Erhardt-Perkins system with modern concepts.
I was on Mike D’Abate’s excellent “Locked On Patriots” podcast on Friday, and I said I wouldn’t be upset to see Alex Van Pelt kept in some capacity with the new offense. He worked very well with Drake Maye and Joe Milton, and their development was there to see this year. If not as an OC, then perhaps as a QB coach, but I think of all the Patriots coaches in 2024, he and Jeremy Springer did well and deserved consideration, although Springer is gone.
Nick Caley: The Rams passing game coordinator. The Patriots tried to give him the job last year, but he wasn’t having any of it and stayed in LA. He was the tight ends coach with Belichick and should have gotten a shot at the OC, but Belichick opted for Matt Patricia and Joe Judge. We all know how that turned out. The only drawback with him (if he’s even willing), is that he doesn’t have experience working with quarterbacks.
Pep Hamilton: When we heard that Hamilton interviewed for the head coaching job, we dismissed it as just a ploy to get around the Rooney Rule. But maybe there was method in the madness. Hamilton is a former QB and he loves Joe Milton (What about Maye?). He has plenty of experience as an OC in the NFL, so I think he’s an excellent prospect to think about.
I still think it is McDaniels’ job to lose, but Vrabel hasn’t announced anyone yet, so I think any of these guys would work well with the Patriots and Vrabel.
Coaching Changes: Mike Reiss of ESPN has reported that TEs coach Bob Bicknell, RBs coach Taylor Embree, WRs coach Tyler Hughes, coaching assistant Keith Jones, and assistant WRs coach Tiquan Underwood are among the Patriots coaches who are moving on in 2025.
Robyn Glaser: The Patriots’ Executive vice president of football business plans to resign from the team after 18 years. Glaser helped players such as Devin McCourty and Deatrich Wise set up foundations and remained close with them.
But Mike Vrabel obviously has different ideas about the organization’s direction and wants to add his own stamp on things. Former Patriot and Vrabel’s teammate Tedy Bruschi said the same thing this week on ESPN.
Eliot Wolf: The Patriots’ de facto GM is sticking around for at least the foreseeable future with the team after the Krafts hired Mike Vrabel as the head coach. Vrabel was asked if he’d be comfortable working with Wolf.
“Absolutely,” Vrabel said. “Beyond comfortable. I wouldn’t be here, and I think through the conversations and the interview process, and the conversations with Eliot and with Robert (Kraft) and with Jonathan (Kraft), and just trying to put a roster together and a program.
“To me, that’s the biggest thing, I want to try to put a program around our coaches, our support staff, our personnel department, our players most especially, that people want to be a part of, that they’re proud of.”
Chris Price: Our old friend from the Boston Globe, who also previously wrote here with PatsFans.com, had a great nugget this week. While looking at free agents that could follow Mike Vrabel to New England, he mentioned this guy, who is probably unknown to most people.
“Daniel Brunskill: The 30-year-old, who played for Vrabel in Tennessee in 2023, has flashed nice versatility, having lined up at center, guard, and tackle for the Titans and 49ers. A 6-5, 300-pounder, his toughness (he’s never played fewer than 14 games in a season) and versatility could appeal to a team looking to overhaul the offensive line.”
Another nice nugget about Brunskill is that he’s had 66 starts in the league, and he’s had just ten (10) penalties in that time. That averages out to just one penalty every six and a half starts. A veteran who can play anywhere on the offensive line? Sign this guy, coach.
Patriots 4th & 2 Podcast: Derek and I recorded this week’s podcast on Sunday afternoon after the Patriots hired Mike Vrabel. Although the hire wasn’t surprising, the podcast garnered plenty of worthy discussions. Please check us out and give us a listen on YouTube, Apple, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
Russ Francis/Chuck Fairbanks: The former Patriot tight end and head coach should be in the Patriots team Hall of Fame, and the fact that Francis isn’t is an absolute travesty. Francis and the Raiders’ Dave Casper changed how teams used the tight end position. This will be discussed in our Sunday posts until it happens. Casper is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Francis’ numbers stand up well against Casper’s, yet he isn’t even in the team’s HOF.
Boston Sports Talk Radio never fails to invent things to hammer the team about and will devote weeks of airtime talking about useless drivel. I still find it amazing that fans tune in, knowing that what they’re listening too is …how do I put this? Call it what it is, Garbage.
We know the 2-6 show will go as low as they can, and their schtick has never changed. If the fans are happy with a certain player or coach, then they spend hours trying to tear down the guy and incite the mob.
They did it with Brady for years, and they were always trying to do that with Belichick and led the call for him to be fired years before he actually was.
So, the hosts were told, because they never go to press conferences, that Drake Maye wasn’t attending Mike Vrabel’s press conference. You’d have thought Maye knocked an old lady down and stole her Babka. It turns out Maye was in Mexico proposing to his longtime girlfriend. That’s a pretty good excuse …right? Wrong.
Not only did they double down on it, but the host also went on a soliloquy about why he was such a hero: He was always on the job when he covered the team. Nobody cares about who was at a January press conference. Take Bill O’Brien.
“I just speak for myself. I could care less,” O’Brien, the former Patriots Offensive Coordinator and now the head coach of Boston College, said on WEEI on Thursday.
“When the offseason program starts, you want the guy in the front row ready to go. It’s not about press conferences. Someone told me, ‘It’s all great at the press conference, and then it’s all downhill from there.’ The press conferences are great, but who cares who’s at the press conference?”
At first, the co-hosts of 2-6 joked with the host about his ridiculous take. But the next day, it was all about doubling down with the host, and Maye was now a question mark, according to one of them.
“I am someone who questions Drake Maye,” said Jim Murray. “And I have unanswered questions about Drake Maye. That’s all.”
“I’m not going to meat-ride Drake Maye like everyone else right now. ‘Oh he’s the best…’ We don’t know,” he continued. “We don’t know. All we have right now with Drake Maye. is hope. That’s it. And I hope too that he can be the quarterback and franchise quarterback for this team. That’s all.”
And then there was this: “And then the other thing, here’s an inconvenient truth for you, Bailey Zappe, with a defensive coordinator cos-playing as an offensive coordinator in his rookie season, greater than Drake Maye. Fact. Statistical fact. Bailey Zappe did something that Drake Maye didn’t do in his rookie season throw, for 300 yards.”
Why the fans tune in for that nonsense has always boggled the mind for more than a decade. I’d rather tune in to a good podcast. But that’s me.
WEEI, however, also had an issue with Maye, not for skipping Vrabel’s press conference but his own press conference following the Patriots’ final loss against Buffalo. Andy Hart is a very good football guy, but he can be sarcastic (most of the time), and when his dander is up, he gets mercurial. I’ve always liked Jumbo, and got along well with him.
He was ticked off at Maye and called him a “Diva” for not speaking to the media following the club’s final game, which, obviously, included Mayo’s firing less than an hour after it was over.
“I’ve got to tell you, the phoning it in started to kind of annoy me,” said Hart, apparently referring to Maye conducting some of his weekly scheduled interviews over the phone rather than in-studio last season. “The reality is, no disrespect to the other players, but Patriots Monday is built around the quarterback and the head coach.”
I totally get that part. The Monday show is a big part of their ratings, and having the QB there in the studio is obviously better than over the phone. The only thing that I disagreed with Hart, and where he went over the top was when he began to compare Maye with Aaron Rogers.
“He’s pulling … His hero, is who? Aaron Rodgers. And Aaron Rodgers, remember when they fired his quarterbacks coach or something and didn’t ask him? And he had a hissy fit. Maybe Drake ‘Diva’ Maye is upset they didn’t consult him with this decision.”
So, has the shine already worn off with Drake Maye and the sports radio stations? We’ll see, but would I be shocked? Nope.
The best game on the schedule this week, in my opinion, is the Bills and Ravens. Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson are for Baltimore, and Josh Allen and Khalil Shakir are for the Bills. Bitterly cold temps. And snow? Of course, this is Buffalo in the winter. And this is playoff weather.
I think this game should be a fantastic matchup with two of the best teams in the AFC. I picked Buffalo, despite the fact that Baltimore kicked their butts early in the season. This time it will go down to the wire. I like the Bills at home.
My head is telling me that the Chiefs will roll over Houston but in the back of my mind, I keep thinking that the Texans could surprise them. Regardless, I think Kansas City wins this matchup.
I think Detroit punches their ticket to the NFC Championship Game and that the Eagles do the same. I do think the game in Philly will be close, but that Eagles’ defense wins the day today.
______________
Saturday, January 18
Kansas City over Houston
Detroit over Washington
Sunday, January 19
Buffalo over Baltimore
Philadelphia over LA Rams
Last week: 3—3
2024 Season 204—68 (best season yet)
2023 Season 178—94
2022 Season: 178—92—2
2021 Season: 183—88—1
2020 Season: 169—86—1
2019 Season: 162—93—1
______________
“I want to galvanize our football team. I want to galvanize this building. I want to galvanize our fans. The most important thing is the players. There are some of them right here. I want to provide a program that provides their ownership but also their accountability of each other, and one that they’ll be proud to be a part of and that they’re going to fight for.
“You guys are going to ask me questions about culture, which I’ll be happy to talk about and discuss. One thing I’ve realized about culture is that you can find out what your culture looks like when your family, your business, or your team is at its low point.
“It’s not when you’re winning Super Bowls, or it’s not when you’re 7-1 or 10-1 because then everybody’s waving towels and everybody’s happy and they’re excited to come to work. But when you get hit in the mouth, or you’re down, or the chips are against you, then you can take a snapshot of what your company or your team looks like, and then you’ll find out what culture you have.
“But that culture is going to be built on winning, a competitive spirit throughout our roster, throughout our players, and throughout our coaches and our staff, and the ability to put the team first and care about somebody other than yourself. I’m excited to do that. I’m excited to get to work. But everyone in this building is going to understand and believe that their job is critically important for our success. And it’s going to be, ‘How can I help you in order to help the players?’
“Our players will respect and they will appreciate, and they will be grateful for the opportunity that they have here and the people that work in this building, some very familiar faces that I can’t wait to reconnect and to work and figure out how we help these players and this football team.”
“We’re going to earn the right to be here every day. We’re going to remove entitlement from our football team. We’re going to get everything that we’ve earned from the head coach to the position coaches, all the way down to the players. We’re going to earn the right to be here every single day. I always say that I don’t want to get into too many messages that will be geared for the players, but I hold those conversations.
“Those are special conversations between the coaches and the players, but we want to treat every player the same way they treat the team, and we want to treat every employee the same way that they treat the team. If they care about the team and they come here with a great attitude and a willingness to work and help the team, I’ve asked Robert to do everything that we can for them, to support them and their families. That’s the type of environment that I want to build, and I’m excited about it.”
At his introductory press conference, the Patriots’ new head coach, Mike Vrabel, discussed building a team culture.
_______________
“Talent sets the floor; Character sets the ceiling.” Bill Belichick
Follow me on Twitter @SteveB7SFG or email me at [email protected]
Listen to our Patriots 4th and 2 podcasts on Apple and YouTube as Russ Goldman, Derek Havens, and myself from PatsFans.com discuss the latest Patriots news and game analysis.
From our archive - this week all-time:
April 10 - April 25 (Through 26yrs)
Join 2,000+ fans getting exclusive stats, analysis, and insights delivered straight to their inbox every week. Never miss a play.
