Here’s what Mike Vrabel had to say during his press conference on Tuesday, May 27, 2026:<\/p>\n
On as he looks to evaluate his group of receivers, if he feels there’s room to add a top receiver if the opportunity presents itself, perhaps even in the coming week:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Well, again, we always\u2014 and again, when I say we, that includes Eliot [Wolf], Ryan [Cowden], and Stretch [John Streicher], the coaching staff, we want to continue to improve the roster every opportunity that we get. And when those opportunities arise, I don’t know. I know that the guys that we have here are working extremely hard. I would say that yesterday’s first OTA was much better, than last year’s. I have to take the coaches’ opinion because I didn’t go back and watch last year’s first day. But I felt like yesterday was really positive. It’s good to see Romeo [Doubs] out there. It was good to see some of the new faces, some of the young guys. It was good to see, you know, Kyle Williams get some opportunities and Chiz [Efton Chism]. And, you know, so again, we’re going to look to strengthen the roster wherever we can. But it was also a great day to see guys that maybe didn’t get as many opportunities last year especially Romeo, who wasn’t on our team.”<\/p>\n On the fact the last time the media talked to him, he apologized for the distraction…<\/strong><\/p>\n “Sure.”<\/p>\n On the fact he talked about the team being one of the things he was apologizing to, and how he feels like he’s been able to mitigate, if not completely erase, that distraction:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Well, I mean, again, we all have to deal with things outside of here. And my focus, and obviously the excitement that I have for coaching, is what is most important right now. And this is a great opportunity, the spring. We don’t have to worry about opponents. We don’t have to worry about… our schedule is pretty much the same. The players just has a routine, and each and every day in the spring is similar. But it’s just about teaching. It’s about teaching these guys the scheme. We talked about having some enhancements offensively and defensively, and special teams of stuff that we did well, but that we’ll have to either dress up or modify slightly. So that’s what the springtime is about. And that’s really all we know is being able to coach these guys and to teach them, help them do their job. This is the time in the spring where they can focus on not only conditioning, but all the details that are going to help them. So that’s really all I know. And that’s really all I want to be able to do.”<\/p>\n On if\u00a0 everybody is here for this:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Yeah, I think that that’s always an important question. And I know you guys probably brought your binoculars. I’ll try to save you the binoculars, and I’ll give you a heads-up on who won’t be here today. But the spring, you guys know, is voluntary. You know, there’s a small mini camp that is mandatory. And again, I’m familiar with that, just my time as a player and what that is. We would love to have everybody here, but that’s not the reality. That’s not the reality in the NFL. So not\u2014 there won’t be 100% participation or attendance at practice. So Carlton [Davis], and let me just say this, like the guys that aren’t here, we communicate, or our guys that aren’t at practice, everybody’s got a different practice plan. We’ve talked about that. But the communication has been great. For whatever reason that guys aren’t at practice. But Carlton, [Kayshon] Boutte, [Mack] Hollins, Gonzo [Christian Gonzalez], Gabe [Jacas], and then I would say you may not … [Harold] Landry won’t be at practice, Kyle Dixon, you know, that’s pretty much the guys that won’t be at practice.”<\/p>\n On the fact he mentioned Gonzo [Gonzalez], and it’s just interesting on Gonzo because he’s eligible for an extension for the first time, and how much of his spring participation has been maybe impacted by that dynamic of the contract:<\/strong><\/p>\n “I don’t know what that\u2014 again, those are personal choices for players. I would say that I value the communication that I’ve had personally. I know that our defensive coaches that have had, conversations with Christian. Again, I wish that they were all here so that we can coach them. But the ones that are here, that’s where our focus will be, and we’ll pour everything that we have into those players. But I know that his professionalism and being ready to go or whatever personal choice that some guys have during the spring, I’m confident that they’ll all be ready.<\/p>\n On the fact that when the last time he spoke to the media, he talked about the balance of family and football and how he would describe how that process has been going:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Oh, really good. I think that that’s\u2014 again, I appreciate – my family is great. I love Jen. I love the boys. I love … my personal friends. And then, you know, this spring is focused on really the coaching staff, the players more importantly than the coaching staff. But I just, seeing the coaches in the second year, how smooth the conversations are, ‘Hey, we love this play, how do we make it better?’ And then these guys, they go out and they find ways to make it better. And then we have conversations and then we decide on a few things that we’re going to try to enhance the things that we did last year. The unique thing about the players is there’s 44 new players to our spring football and the spring football, what you’ll see today is not necessarily what you guys will see at training camp. We have certain rules, we have specific rules. They don’t have pads on, they just have a helmet.”<\/p>\n “So again, it’s a\u2014 we call it a passing camp. You’re going to see D-linemen that are going to maybe rush and you’re going to be like, ‘Well, he stopped.’\u00a0 Well, that’s because we’ve asked him to stop. We’ve asked him to get off, make a move, and then just kind of wait until the ball’s thrown and hopefully they run out of the stack. But the offensive linemen have to take a set. They have to punch. They have to stay inside-out. But then also we’re not trying to take a guy over into the quarterback, obviously, ever, or into another lineman. The DBs can’t really\u2014 they have to avoid contact, where in maybe training camp that, those bang-bang plays, they can have contact. So we’re trying to teach one, the rookies, those spring NFL rules, but then also those new players that came from other teams how we practice in the spring and the efficiency in which we move from drill to drill. So, there’ll even be a jog through. We put the runs in at the end of practice that we’re trying to install. And you’ll be like, ‘Why do they look like they’re going slow motion?’ That’s because it’s a jog through. I don’t want to run the football without pads on. I don’t think that’s very productive. And the other thing is I try to explain to them is that we’re going to need to have different tempos of practice throughout the season.We play on Thursdays, not going to be much practice from a Sunday to a Thursday. We have two Thursday games. And so, as the season wears on, we’re going to need different tempos, and this is part of that process.”<\/p>\n On the fact he leads the room daily, and how he feels the players have responded to his \u2014<\/strong><\/p>\n “Well, not every day, Mike [Giardi]. Some of your sources probably aren’t as good. I don’t have a team meeting every single day in the spring.”<\/p>\n Almost every day?\u00a0 Close to?<\/strong><\/p>\n “Sometimes.”<\/p>\n Regardless…<\/strong><\/p>\n “Most of the time.”<\/p>\n …You’re in front of the room. How have you felt like the players have responded to your leadership because it was such a critical point last year?<\/strong><\/p>\n “I don’t want to speak for the players. All I can do\u2014 I feel great. I feel like, I’m trying to give them the information that are going to help them do their job. I’ve talked about this as far as the importance of the balance between their own success, which leads to great things for them and the people that they care about, but then also trying to manage that with the team. And that’s a fine balance of the dynamic that we wage in this business of professional sports. And I try to do that each day. I had a team meeting today. We watched the practice clips. We watched the ones that I felt like were good, even the positive ones, and then the ones that we need to focus on. And those weren’t even mistakes. Some of them were, one or two extra steps into the middle of the pocket or to the rush or just little things on how we want to practice and receivers turning in and trying to get a block, which was so critical to a lot of our X plays last year.\u00a0 It was just something simple as a guy, Pop Douglas or Austin Hooper turning and getting a block in Buffalo in a critical game on Sunday night that let [Stefon] Diggs go all the way to the 5-yard line, or Kyle Williams blocking for Rhamondre [Stevenson] after a checkdown. We were backed up in the end zone against the Chargers that went for 50 yards and really kind of swung the game in our favor from being backed up. So all those little plays that I can show them from the season, those all start in the spring. We can’t just say, ‘hey, it’s September, let’s start trying to practice our identity.'”<\/p>\n On if he anticipates having to miss football activities again for the rest of the spring:<\/strong><\/p>\n “I mean, I can only tell you I’m going to be there today, Ben [Volin]. I can’t tell you anything other than I’m going to be out there today in full force. And I mean that because, who knows what’s going to come up? I’m not even…anything could happen. And so I’m going to focus on today, but in the excitement that we’ve had and that we’ve built so far and the conditioning that we’ve tried to incorporate into our practices and the weightlifting and all the things that are critical.”<\/p>\n On the fact with Kyle Williams, he emphasized that he put on some weight this offseason and that this year 1 to year 2 jump is going to be, in his words, ‘a very big deal,’ and what he’s seen from him this offseason:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Well, we always try to give players the things that they’ve done well and the things that they can try to enhance and the areas of focus. And Kyle’s strength and his ability to manage as a speed player has improved. And he’s really talking to the strength coaches is he’s embraced that idea of lifting and how critical that is for, for all players, but especially a younger one as a receiver. And you saw him really have some great flashes last year. And then the other thing that’s really critical with receivers is once they can know more than one position, it really opens up their opportunities and what they can do as opposed to just being a one-position player. Kyle’s now … You’ll see him at different places today.”<\/p>\n On his thoughts on day 3 of the draft when he wasn’t there and whether he regrets not being there, and his thoughts on Caleb Lomu and Gabe Jacas:<\/strong><\/p>\n “No, again, they moved around. They made some trades. And again, this draft was pretty unique. I don’t know if it’s really been talked about, but they’re just\u2014 the volume of players in the draft wasn’t what it normally is. And we saw a lot of players that went back to school that probably could have come out. I would imagine that it’s the NIL and their ability to go back and play for being compensated in college. So the numbers were down. And so the number of players in that pool was down. So I just felt like that was interesting. We moved around, excited about the players that we got, studied most of them. They knew my affinity for some of the players that we took. And then admittedly, I don’t know if I’m going to know the the 300th player in every draft. So I was excited. We had Behren [Morton] here on a visit. We had Karon [Prunty] here on a visit, studied,\u00a0 Demetrius [Crownover], who just had a son, Crownover, studied him just because Texas A&M had so many draft-worthy players. So very familiar with most of those guys.”<\/p>\n “And then Caleb [Lomu], really, one, learning the pro game, learning our system, and some of the things that you see in college is not that they can’t do it, it’s just that they’re not being coached to do it. And that’s\u2014 there’s a lot of different ways to, to coach football and what you believe. And so some of the techniques are different. And I think he’s really embraced those. It’s been an unbelievably coachable player. It’s just, he’s young, right? He’s young, he’s big, he’s athletic, and he’s willing to learn. He’s excited about learning. And so where he plays, we want to end up with the 5 best linemen. I think he’s going to have the ability to play both sides. I can report that he’ll be on the right today. I might get some snaps on the left, but you guys know how this goes. We played 10 linemen last year. We’re going to have to have 5 good ones that can protect Drake as well as swing tackle. You know, we have to have somebody that goes inside and then we’re going to have to have somebody that pulls it as the backup center.\u00a0 So that’s a long-winded answer about where Caleb’s at, but I’m excited about where he’s at, where he’s going to eventually be. I don’t think I can answer that right now.”<\/p>\n On what his communication has been with Keyshawn Boutte and his expecations are for him heading into this offseason:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Well, really the offseason I think is over. We’re on to really just the preseason. I mean, that’s what we have to look at it as. Again, I have a great amount of respect for Kayshon and watching him mature and grow through the entire time that we’ve spent together. That’s a credit to Kayshon. That’s a credit to Todd Downing. And just the communication is, ‘Hey, how you doing? You working hard?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, I like where I’m working out at.’ Okay. You know, we’ll be here ready to coach you when you’re here.’ So that’s been very positive. And I would imagine that he would pick up where he left off and grow on the season that he had last year.”<\/p>\n On the fact he mentioned that Christian Gonzalez isn’t going to be practicing today, and if he’s with the team right now:<\/strong><\/p>\n “I’m not going to get into specifics about everybody’s whereabouts. I love the communication that I’ve had with everybody. So again, whenever he’s out on the practice field, we’ll be able to coach him. You guys will be able to see him and you guys will be able to report on him.”<\/p>\n On the fact Khyris Tonga was such an important piece of their defensive front last year and that it seemed like there weren’t any veterans added to replace him, and if that’s a spot where he’d like to see a Corey Durden or a young player step up:<\/strong><\/p>\n “I think Corey already has, or Corey already did. You know what I mean? I think he proved that. And again, nobody was happier for Tonga than me personally and what he was able to do for us. And that’s the beauty of the National\u2014 you know what I mean? Of professional sports. He came here, we wanted him back, got a better offer, and, you know what I mean? He had\u2014 that’s what he had to do. And that’s what he should have done. And so I’m going to support him and his family. But we also are excited, you know, Lenny T, Leonard Taylor worked with us, Eric Gregory worked with us. These guys are proving that they want to be there. Josh Farmer back healthy. But Corey, I think probably coming out of last year would be that on paper. Again, there’ll be competition in training camp, but I think that that’s a good group. The lines of scrimmage are critical to the question about Caleb and our offensive line. But we talk about our defensive linemen, our offensive linemen. They have to be our identity soldiers and the warriors that carry the message in the way that they play.”<\/p>\n “When big dudes run and hit people, you can make an impact on the game. So you saw a lot of those guys that came out of the stack that made plays. Corey was one of them, Milt [Milton Williams], on and on and on. So that’s what they’re going to be practicing today. And hopefully you guys see that, and hopefully they’re just not running into anybody when they come out of the stack.<\/p>\n On his thoughts on the schedule, specifically the challenge of the Seattle opener:<\/strong><\/p>\n “Well, playing in Seattle, playing the Seahawks and defending Super Bowl Champions, that would be a tough game when and wherever we played it. But I think we’ll eventually be ready for the challenge. We’re clearly not ready for it yet. I don’t think anybody is, but that’s what we’ll build to. We’ll have to … so many different times handle the environment and that’ll test us early. So that’ll be something that we’ll focus on through training camp. Excited about the rest of the schedule, but just… we’ll have to play in the heat. We’ll have to play in Munich. We’ll have to play on Thursday night with a short turnaround, we’ll have long breaks. So there’ll have to be some creativity on going 13 days between games is somewhat unique. We have that a couple times, maybe. We have short turnarounds, we have long breaks. It’ll be all of our jobs to make sure that the players are ready when and where we play.”<\/p>\n (EDITOR\u2019S 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.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mike Vrabel’s May 27 press conference, he discussed roster improvements, Christian Gonzalez’s absence, spring practice rules, and the 2026 schedule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":65630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_pfeai_meta_description":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[237],"tags":[24553,23269,24288,1248,24136,24007,24708,23278,24137,59,664,1967,24706,23931,1074,24705,24707,24704,1436,374],"class_list":["post-66846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-transcripts","tag-caleb-lomu","tag-christian-gonzalez","tag-coaching-staff","tag-contract-extensions","tag-corey-durden","tag-defensive-line","tag-family-balance","tag-kayshon-boutte","tag-khyris-tonga","tag-kyle-williams","tag-mike-vrabel","tag-nfl-draft","tag-nil","tag-offensive-line","tag-otas","tag-player-participation","tag-receivers","tag-roster-improvement","tag-schedule","tag-seattle-seahawks"],"yoast_head":"\n