One thing feels pretty certain as first-year Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel begins his tenure here in New England.
He’s going to do things his way.
Having spent a year removed from coaching last year after joining the Browns in a consulting role, Vrabel has certainly had plenty of time to reflect on his fairly successful career as a head coach in the NFL. He’s been asked repeatedly about last season and what he learned in his year away, saying, “I learned there’s nothing else I’d rather do.”
Having come full circle, his expectations are high as he begins a new chapter now that he’s back with the Patriots.
Vrabel admitted on Monday that there’s been times where it’s been a little surreal. He told 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Michael Felger that walking through the locker room has been a little strange, and he’s just happy to be back.
“I think just some flashbacks, sometimes working through the locker room and being like, ‘Wow, I can remember being over here and [Tedy] Bruschi and all these other guys,” said Vrabel. “Here’s where Willie’s [McGinest] locker was, and Don Davis was next to me. Here was [Larry] Izzo’s locker. So I think that’s just been cool at different points during the day.”
For Vrabel, his philosophy certainly appears to be a little different from former Patriots coach, Bill Belichick. There were multiple reports last season during Jerod Mayo’s tenure that when Belichick was here, coaches would stay late while being afraid of Belichick seeing them leave before he did. The former coach was apparently no stranger to long hours but it’s something that Vrabel believes isn’t necessarily the best approach.
“We don’t want to sit there and guard our desk,” said Vrabel. “We want to be very efficient. We want a rested staff, a staff that has energy that can come in there and translate that to the players.”
Being efficient with their time was something Belichick apparently wasn’t known for in his final season with the Patriots, with that phrase coming up in the NFLPA’s report following his departure that offseason.
Meanwhile, Felger, who has had some spirited discussions on air with Tony Massarotti and Jim Murray about coaches who went off on their own having worked under Belichick and failed, asked Vrabel whether or not he considered himself part of that tree.
“When you see me coach or you see me interact, do you feel like I’m from that lineage?” Vrabel replied, to which Felger answered, “No.”
“Me neither,” said Vrabel.
Vrabel then went on to make a good point. He was a player and never worked directly for Belichick, so he didn’t believe he fell into that category.
“I never worked for Bill Belichick as a coach,” said Vrabel. “There’s a lot of things that I learned from him as a player that I’ve used. But just like with Urban Meyer or just like with anybody else that I’ve worked for, I’ve tried to take those things, but do it in my own personality, in my own style.”
However, Vrabel was then asked what he took away from him, which the former linebacker said was both the preparation and the competitive environment Belichick created.
“Well, I thought the preparation, we were prepared,” said Vrabel. “We were a prepared football team. We knew what the rules were, and we used them to our advantage as a player. Those are things that he could explain to me that try to help and do those things.”
“The competitiveness in which we try to create in the roster, I felt like was something that as a player, I don’t know if I necessarily loved, but it certainly is something that I look back on and say, ‘Hey, that was best for our football team is putting good players at the position and letting them fight it out and figure it out how everybody’s going to help the football team.’”
For now, as he gets started working in the same building as his former coach, he’s focused on building this football team as he starts his next chapter. Vrabel then smiled as he was asked if he keeps in touch with Belichick.
“We talk,” said Vrabel. “We haven’t talked in a little bit, but I know where to find him. He knows where to find me.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
My perception is, Vrabel, alike BB will need his type guys around to drive his culture. That is a TBD, but you can see that in the guys Vrabel has brought in to-date via FA. It’s been discussed in the media. IE Spillane being a captain type. Today’s young players were an issue for BB in his later years here in NE. In the early years, there was a litter of Bruschi’s and McGinest types. Finding those types changed for BB over the 2 decades he was here. Young players are different today. That need for “your type guys” can… Read more »