TRANSCRIPT: Mike Vrabel on WEEI on Monday 8/25
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Here’s what Mike Vrabel had to say during his interview on WEEI’s The Greg Hill Show on Monday, August 25, 2025:
So we’re getting down to it here. Meaningful football in less than two weeks. Your first training camp here as a head coach. Are you in the same mindset as Wiggy and Ty Law, some of the old heads that we hear on our show, that guys, the way training camp is now, you can’t hit enough. It’s a lot of walkthroughs.
“Well, it’s different. It’s different. So I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I’m just telling you it’s different. That’s what some of the rules are. That’s what the tracking and the science of everything, of the mileage and just how much they’re running, and the pads that you can have on, certain amount of days. Just the schedule is different. And so, again, we just have to make sure what we know with the rules, and then we follow them and make sure that we’re doing everything we can to get them prepared. It’s different.”
Mike, it’s about the balance, right? I know the balance is different, especially for preseason games. Do you feel like Drake Maye, got enough reps, opportunity, in the preseason to make sure he’s able to be prepared and ready to go week one?
“Yeah. I think that through the joint practices with Washington and the volume there and the volume with Minnesota, and again, wanted to get him out there for some action. But then I think there’s a balance there. There’s a balance of how much you want to go out there and play, but you have to get out there and do a little bit and take some hits and make some throws and stand in a live pocket and all those things.”
Mike, when you look back at preseason so far, for you specifically, what’s been the most challenging part? Your first season as head coach here, what’s the challenge that comes along with that?
“I mean, there’s something that comes up every day. It’s schedule, rain, this, that, the other, travel, guys injured, guys can’t go in the morning, adjusting practice or moving things around. That’s the challenge. I think it’s just to try to have some consistent efforts, build a routine, have a flow, I think, to training camp. I appreciate the fans that came out each and every day. We tried to build a flow and just the daily routine, and now we’re switching back to what we would consider an in-season schedule. So that was a little bit of an adjustment, and that will continue to be one from yesterday to today and moving forward. So I would say that’s probably the next challenge is just getting acclimated to a regular season schedule.
TreVeyon Henderson said Wednesday that you and the organization have done such a great job of helping them become closer as a group. Do you see that and feel that? How do you do that?
“Well, I think that you just try to invest time in the players and obviously be intentional with building a locker room. We’re going to be together for a long time. This is a long season, and we don’t want these to be one-year rentals. We want to try to build something with players and build around them and those pieces. There’s a lot that goes into it. Again, there’s a personal side of this business and a professional side of this business. Hopefully, we don’t let those interfere with each other. But we certainly are trying to be intentional with making connections throughout the building and between players and between coaches and players.”
You talk about being intentional. How important is it to have one voice that’s echoed throughout the building? I just think to the public comments, I think a week or two ago where Eliot Wolf said, “We’re willing to trade a first or a second round pick to acquire a talent.” It seems like there are multiple people speaking about the direction of the organization, and that struck me as just odd. I would never envision you saying publicly what you would be willing to trade for an asset.
“Well, I think that when you talk about player acquisition, I think it depends. That’s a hard question to answer without talking about who that player is. And I think that we have to go to great lengths to improve this team. And those are different options. And if that’s through the draft or trading somebody or trading for a player, I’m certainly not going to speak for anybody or Eliot or anybody else. But we will have to make sure that we invest a lot of time into what those decisions are, look at them, and then say, ‘Is this what’s best for the team?’ And then if it’s not, then don’t do it. But if it is, then we would have to consider it. So I just… One voice or two voice, you know what I’m saying? I think that it’s pretty clear that we’re in alignment as an organization, what we want from our players, what we expect, what we want our identity to be, and then we’ll go about trying to get there.”
I know you don’t want to talk about players that are on other teams. Understand that. But players like that, like there are two, maybe three legit playmaker additions that you could add to this football team who seem to be disgruntled. Are you guys working? Is it your philosophy, the organization’s philosophy, you want to go do whatever it takes to go and get somebody who can add to this team right now?
“Well, again, we want to continue to strengthen the roster, and I don’t know if that’s the players that you’re talking about or some other players or how that may come about. But I know we have had conversations. We’ll continue to have conversations about continuing to improve the roster. And then, again, if it makes sense, and we feel like it’s advantageous to us, then we’ll consider it.”
A couple of them can get after the quarterback, and one can catch the football pretty well. I won’t say any names. When you look at this roster, one of the guys that I think a lot of fans and you guys have high expectations for is Stefon Diggs. I know we hadn’t seen him throughout the whole preseason as far as the games. What’s the expectation for him week one?
“I mean, that he’s ready to go and that he helps, and he helps our offense, and that he helps Drake. And again, I think that they’re building a connection. I think that we’ve played a lot of different receiver combinations, and I think that that’s been good, whether that be in the red zone yesterday or in the two-minute drive. And guys are rolling in there and finding a role. So again, I think the expectations are high for all of us, whether it be Steph Diggs or Drake or me or Kyle Williams or anybody out there. The expectations, this is professional football. But his attitude has been good. He’s had a willingness, and I’ve decided to keep him out of those preseason games that you mentioned.”
So that was not… I think one of the great things about being able to interview you is you get to… There’s a lot of nonsense that floats around. You get to come on this show and again, clear it up for all of us. So you decided to keep him out of games, nothing to do with-
“He’s gotten a lot of reps.”
So you’re happy with him?
“Yeah. I mean, I think where he’s at, he’s been able to string days together and whether that’s held him out of individual and brought him out for team or, I’m just trying to get each guy what they need to be ready for the season.”
When you were asked about Ja’Lynn Polk last week, you said ‘rats.’ Is there a rat problem that you have in the building? Have you figured out where the leaks are?
“No, you guys, I love how you guys take everything I say…”
You say rats. We got to run with it.
“You got nervous.”
We don’t have much else to talk about.
“You guys get all nervous. There’s rats all over the place. Whether that’s in this building, whether that’s outside this building, I just love the flow of information, and I just felt inclined, and I was pissed off because we stunk and we couldn’t do anything. I tried to entertain you guys a little bit. I was ready to get home and get back to Foxborough.”
So you don’t have to smoke them out?
“No, I don’t think that we’ll have to smoke them out. I think we just want to be careful. Again, the information that gets transferred to the media. And again, we always want to do right by the Patriots and this football team. I think that’s the most important thing.”
How difficult is it to compete when it looks like your first week roster will have only one player from the 2024 draft class? Can you compete when you have one guy from an entire class last year?
“Yes.”
How much more… How difficult is that as an organization to overcome?
“I’ve never even looked at how difficult. It’s hard to compete in this league. So wherever the roster shakes out at, it’s going to be hard to compete, whether we have fifteen guys from the draft class or two or one or none. We’ll have a roster, and we’ll try to figure out the best way to win each and every week, however that is, with whoever we have, just like we’ve always done.”
And how much have you, as a new guy in the organization, scouted and seen what has transpired in the front office, and then use that to sort of say, ‘Okay, this is who we should have making decisions going forward, given what they did last year in the draft?’
“No, I haven’t looked at that one bit. I haven’t paid any attention to that. I’ve just tried to communicate with Ryan and Eliott and tried to figure out who we need. That’s been my focus.”
You’re talking about Drake Maye earlier, some panic when the quarterback is running the football. How do you balance, I mean, he ran a lot in college. How do you balance that with the need to keep your quarterback healthy?
“Well, I think that you have to be able to use his ability, whether that’s to extend plays and when we drop back and throw it, or by design at times. And he just has to understand that we’re not trying to take any unnecessary risk in making sure that he protects himself and gets down and protects the football. And so I think he’ll continue to do that. I think we’ve seen glimpses of that. And I think the more that he does it, the more comfortable he’ll get and understand that. But I think you have to be able to use what he brings in his athleticism.”
Mike, what’s that relationship like? Because I think a lot of people, we look at you and we know what you’ve been able to accomplish in this league as a head coach. You’ve been very successful. And I think the relationship between you and Eliot Wolf, what’s that relationship like? Because I think that you have a voice because you wouldn’t be in this position without being the Mike Vrabel that you are. It’s like, ‘Okay, here’s what we need to do.’ Is he on that same page with you?
“Yes, I wouldn’t caught up in that. We meet every day. We talk, he communicates. We talk through the injuries, we talk to who we need, who’s available, what we may have to do here. We met with the players, and when we had to move on from them, we met with them, and both he and I talked to them. We thanked them, and we tried to do it, like I said, as professionally as we could. This is a tough time of year. So again, it really is not an issue for me, or conversations, or how we talk, or what we need to get done. That’s what we’re trying to do, whether that was in free agency or the draft or now here.”
Two specific players, Drake and Will Campbell, have been talked about as having Jekyll and Hyde between joint practices and then the actual preseason games. I always find it interesting. Wiggy says that he learns more about players when it comes to joint practice and how they perform in joint practice instead of the preseason games. Where do you fall there? Where do you get more out of your players, and who they could be in the regular season?
“Well, I think the games matter. I think they do. I think the live contact and the tackling and some things, everybody thinks that there’s a sack every single play in practice. I love that. I asked the player how many sacks he had in his career. He said five. And I said, ‘You think you got three in practice today? I doubt it.’ But that’s how it goes. And I think that the joint practices are really good. And I think that when you talk about evaluation, you have to look at everything and who they’re going against. But the games are still important. I think to be able to do these things under… It’s just a different feel, right? The play clock, the operation of everything is a little different than practice.”
Speaking of stats, I think for you, preseason, two fights, joint practice-wise.
“I’m telling you, you haven’t been in too many fights because those aren’t fights. They were just wrestling.”
I love you getting right in there, though. I mean, it’s like you’re 25 years old again.
” just don’t want to see any punches done. I think when they go to the ground, I just try to get in there and break it up.”
No scarring on the cheek either.
Yeah, you recovered pretty quick on that.
Never hit a guy with a helmet on. I learned that a long time ago when Fred Baxter punched somebody with a helmet and then broke his hand.
“Freddie B.”
Yeah, Freddie B. You look at this offense and you look at a guy like Will Campbell, and we’ve talked about this before, his nastiness, what he can do in the run game. I’d like to know, how has his progression been in pass protection? Because that is a huge part of, especially all offensive linemen, but especially the left tackle, who’s protecting the blind side. How has his progression been, in your opinion?
“It’s been good.”
All right? Good.
“The thing that we talk about with young players is just starting to build tricks of the trade, right? Whatever those are at each position, the craftiness. And that’s something that we talk to Will about, and different players outside linebackers going against some of these other guys and the tricks that they use, whether that’s in the pass game or the run game. So just trying to continue to build that toolbox of just craftiness that I think help a lot of these guys take the next step, take that jump.”
I know you want to win every football game. It’s probably a fan media thing that the schedule comes out and we start to predict how many wins. Is that part of your process?
“No, they come in different places. They do.”
Okay. So you’re going to sit there and go, ‘Hey, this team ought to be an X amount of wins in the football game.’
“No. We’re undefeated right now.”
Do you have an idea of what is a successful season for you?
“No, I’ve never looked at it like that. I think that there’s a growth, that there’s a clear identity, that we play to kind of who we are, that we continue to try to, like we said, be good enough to take advantage of bad football for doing some of those things. You’re going to have to win some close games. You’re going to have to win some close games in this league, and we’ll have to do that. But I’ve never looked at what a successful season was. Obviously, we’re here to win championships. That’s what that goal is. Win the division. We’ve talked about this. Win the division, host home playoff games, and play for Championship. So that’s our job.”
I saw recently one of your media rules for the guys is speak for yourself. What does that mean?
“Well, he asked me what Eliot meant, and I said, ‘Well, I’m not going to speak for Eliot. I’m going to speak for me.’ So you guys are interviewing me. I’ll answer questions about me and what I think. And if Wiggy’s got something to say, he’ll say it. And I’m not going to say what Wiggy thinks. How the hell do I know what Wiggy thinks?”
I’ll let you know.
We don’t. Nobody knows, really.
“But doesn’t that make sense? I don’t know. You guys want to speak for me and how I think and everything else. I’ll just speak for myself.”
We dealt with a guy for a lot of years down here who wouldn’t sit. We tried to get him to say one thing during an interview. It was very difficult.
“How were those? I should go back and watch.”
It was like pulling teeth. That’s what it was.
The scariest Sunday night into Monday of my life. Three years.
We have a support group.
How much of when it comes to who you are as a coach, how much of that is Bill Belichick? How much of that do you think you learned from Bill?
“I mean, quite a bit. Just as I learned a lot from Urban Meyer, or Bill Cowher, or Bill O’Brien. Big BC guys over there.”
Bill was on the show last week talking about your son being on the staff over there.
“Tyler’s helping out and he’s excited. I’ll tell you, I don’t know how much time we have. We have plenty. No, I don’t know how much time I have.”
What’s the story?
We’re here in a little 10. You got plenty of time.
I want to come down to the office.
“He’s like, after the first scrimmage, I said, ‘How did it go?’ He’s like, ‘Well, we threw the ball okay. We couldn’t really run.’ I said, ‘What was it?’ He’s like, ‘They had some movements and stuff.’ He’s helping out with the O’Line. He’s like, ‘The third group really didn’t handle movement very well.’ And he’s like, ‘And the crazy thing is, we false-started four times, which I don’t know how. We only use the same effing cadence every time.’ I said, I texted back, ‘Welcome to coaching. ‘ I said, ‘Welcome to coaching, Tyler.'”
He knows what it’s like to be on the other side. You know what’s interesting, Mike? You bring up and you say you can only talk about you and the identity. What do you want the identity of this team to be? I know you talk to them. What is that?
“I want you to see. I want our fans to see a team that plays together, that has a … playing team defense that finishes. Guys that are finishing around the football. We got O’Linemen that are down the field. We have receivers that are willing to protect the guy with the ball. A team that takes care of the football, that values the football, somebody that is able to turn the football over and affect the quarterback, and then a team that makes great decisions. I think that those are important when you’re out on the field is that we don’t have guys that are a second guy in or blindside blocking guys intentionally. Just like Marcus hit a big return a couple of preseasons ago, and we got three guys that are high screening and using the rules and doing it the right way.”
(Editor’s Note: This transcript is done via the available footage and is subject to typos. If you spot something, please take a moment to let me know in the comments below.)
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