TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel Press Conference 7/25
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Here’s what Mike Vrabel had to say Friday morning, July 25, 2025 ahead of New England Patriots training camp:
On how tough it is on a second-year player like Ja’Lynn Polk to be missing so much time:
“Well, I mean, there’s a lot of ways around being out here at practice. I think that everybody, whether that’s a first year, second year, 10 year, we think that practice is important, but obviously, there’s circumstances around being out here and not being out here and how you can stay up with the installation at the beginning part of camp. There is installation. It’s a repeat from the spring. So hopefully, any player that’s not out here can stay engaged and continue to learn and get the information that they need, and then be ready when they get back. I think that’s the important thing is focusing on, doing everything, that you can to get back as quickly as possible. But also when you do get back, there’s not a big drop off of information lost when you get back.”
On what he’s seen from Keion White and what he’s learned about him and how good he can be.
“Well, I love Keion’s attitude. He’s a worker. He’s a here early… He’s got a routine that I think has worked for him. He practices hard. He’s conditioned. So again, as we work through this and progress, and we’re just a couple of days into this, but I think Keion has got a great attitude. I love just being able to coach him. He’s very receptive. He’s a very coachable player.
On the fact he seems like a straightforward guy and if he’s like that with the coaches:
“Yeah. I mean, I think most everybody, I would imagine, or hopefully, is straightforward. I mean, Keion, there’s not a lot of fluff to him. Our conversations are mostly… He wants to know football. He wants to talk football. That’s his profession. That’s his career. That’s his passion. So, we talk a lot of football, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know him.”
On what has stuck out to him about Jared Wilson:
“I think that he’s a quick learner. He’s been able to learn two positions inside, as far as center and guard. I would say to Karen [Guregian]’s question, he was one of those players that maybe wasn’t out there as much on the field in the spring, but really was able to grasp it mentally and allow that to carry over when he had an opportunity to be on the field. So he was able to show for a young player some of those things to be able to be ready when he got his opportunity to get on the field.”
On the fact Christian Barmore said he’s dropped weight and is down to around 305 pounds and that’s where he wants to play, and if that’s something they wanted from him:
“It’s a group effort with our players and kind of seeing where they’re at in the spring. That’s why we think that the spring is important to evaluate their conditioning level, their weight, their strength, how they’re able to do their job. We have conversations, myself and Frank, with the players and where they end up. We’ll try to see what’s best for each guy. ”
On the fact K’Lavon Chaisson seems young for a guy heading into year six, and if he saw any untapped potential the way he finished last season in Las Vegas:
“I think that’s probably a good way to look at it. It takes some players a little longer than it takes others. I would say that I’m hopeful that his best football is in front of him. I’m very excited about how he came in, and personality-wise, and what he’s shown on the field thus far. That’s an interesting fun room to be around. You mentioned Keion and K.C. and Harold [Landry] and Anferee [Jennings] is a veteran, and then we’ve got some younger guys in there as well.”
On the fact that listening to some of the guys talk yesterday, they were saying they were getting to know each other, which he said previously was one of his objectives and where that came from in terms of his coaching philosophy:
“We spend a lot of time together. It’s a team sport. We need everybody to function properly. We need them at the right time to put the team first. We’re going to ask everybody to make tough decisions, and hopefully, the better that you know somebody, understand who they’re playing for and what they’re doing and who they’re trying to support and the things that we have going on outside of here. There’s a lot of similarities that the more you get to know somebody, I think the better it is to work with them.”
On the locker room, and how intentional he was in setting that up in terms of putting certain guys together:
“I think it’s positionally. I think that right now it’s positionally to the best of our ability. We’re going to get a new locker room. We’ll have a ton of space, and we’ll be able to, I think, get a little bit more creative in April when we’re able to get in there, we have a limited amount of space in the locker room that we have now.”
On Mack Hollins and if he’s coming back anytime soon:
“He won’t be out there today. Mack won’t be out there today. That I can guarantee you. But we’ll see where that goes. Again, he’s working extremely hard. He’s a player that, again, I think he’s stayed engaged and he’s really been able to… When you’re on these lists, you can’t even do the walkthroughs. So he has to be in the meetings, and then he kind of works out on a separate field, and then he can’t even be engaged in the walkthrough. So he just has to watch and be able to process the information. But he’s a pro. He spends a lot of time here. I’ve seen him mentoring and working with the younger guys as well.”
On the pop quizzes he likes to give guys and how big of a tool that is for him as a coach and what the overall purpose is of that style:
“Well, we want to make sure that everybody is stimulated, that they stay engaged. It’s called direct teaching. Being able to spit it back the same way that we give you the information. And again, that takes time. I feel like it’s when a player does know that they answer confidently, they answer clearly, and it gives them confidence, but it also gives the players that they’re out there with confidence that they know what they’re doing. And if they don’t know, I just tell them, ‘Say, I don’t know,’ and then I’m allowed to… That’s our job now to come in as teachers and to reapply the information and get it to them until they’re able to process it. But when guys start answering questions in front of the teammates correctly, you start to see their confidence go up and the other players are excited about going out there and playing with him.”
On Hollins and the fact he hasn’t been able to practice much, how does he evaluate his potential impact on the field:
“Well, that would just be a prediction, and I’m not big into predictions. So we’ll just evaluate him when he’s out there. I can evaluate the person. I can evaluate his character off the field, the way that he works in the weight room, the way that he carries himself in a meeting and around the building, and his interactions with everybody in the building. But right now, anything that would be speculation on the field. So when he’s out there, then we’ll be able to evaluate him as a player.”
On the fact receivers the last couple of days have talked about how Stefon Diggs has raised the bar in that room and how a player like that challenges everyone on the team:
“Just trying to create a competitive environment that everybody’s working together, no different than an offensive lineman, defensive lineman. That’s why we like to practice against other teams. There’s other players around the league that play the same position, but they do it with a different skill set. They have a different size, speed, length, route, craft, whatever that may be. Those are good opportunities for our players to see other players around the league, and hopefully, ones that we would play in the season.”
On how he felt the offense did in terms of maximizing first down opportunities and what the focus will be today situationally:
“We’re going to add third down today. The practice is, guys, we go through this all the time. There’s going to be some good plays, there’s going to be some bad ones, and then obviously the ones that we have to try to eliminate. I think they started out okay, and then I don’t think we finished as well as we started. That’s got to change, and that has to understand that we’re going to try to schedule the practices the same way the games would. If we’re not finishing a practice, we have to hopefully fix that and correct it so that we can finish in the game. We can pick up some crucial first downs if we’re leading, or if we’re in a two-minute situation and we need some plays to go down there and get a score.
“But today will be a lighter day so that you guys can understand that this will be more of a walkthrough. But again, it’s important, I think, to see how our team responds and are able to work in that capacity. I’m hopeful that we can get something out of this and come back and really have some speed tomorrow and really have a good one tomorrow before a day off on Sunday.”
On the fact we didn’t see Carlton Davis out there yesterday:
“Yeah, just maintenance and continue to kind of give him what he needs as part of a plan. Again, that’s my job each and every day is to figure out what everybody’s going to do and how they’re going to contribute each day to us winning.”
On the fact he mentioned a while ago that he would continue to be active in trying to improve the team, and whether or not, with Christian Wilkins available, whether or not he’s someone they would kick the tires on:
“I think we’ll have a conversation. Again, this is pretty new, so I don’t have all the information on where Christian is. I know Christian. I’ve recruited him when he was up here in the area in Connecticut and going to high school. So I’m sure we’ll have a conversation about it.”
On Robert Spillane and what his strengths are as a player:
“He’s a very competitive, prideful leader. He plays with a lot of energy, plays with passion, great communicator, plays with a level of violence in a run game. I think he’s got a little level of versatility to him, too.”
On if there are any specific traits he looks for in linebackers:
“Just ones that can tackle and find the football. Can they blitz? Can they cover? There’s a lot of matchups now with running backs that people are trying to create. So can they cover the communication? Body types, I think, are all different shapes and sizes. I think nowadays, I don’t think that there’s a specific size. It’s the ability to do their job. Can they take on blocks? Can they slip blocks? What are their instincts like? And their ability to tackle not only in the box, but in the open field. They’re going to make you play sideline to sideline, play perimeter runs and outside zones and swings and all this other stuff. There’s a level of versatility, I think that’s critical nowadays.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE: This transcript was done based on the available footage and is subject to typographical errors. If you spot anything, please let me know in the comments below.)
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Wilkins would be a good sign, IF… he’s willing to take an incentive laden play for pay job this year. That injury may be problematic for him. Wilkins made $50M off the Raiders and only played 5 games last year. He was a good run stuffer in the middle for MIA and can penetrate. He’s a good player. Signed a huge contract for a reason – he’s a good tackle. Given the Pats don’t have anyone that’s won the job of being the 3rd or 4th big to rotate in, Wilkins could be a big plus. If he’s healthy to… Read more »