The Patriots’ new head coach pulled back the curtain on his role in the roster building process.
Bill Belichick controlled every aspect of the New England Patriots’ football operations for more than two decades. When he left the organization after the 2023 season, the organization was therefore forced to adapt its approach and modernize its hierarchy.
The big buzzword at the time was “collaboration,” with Jerod Mayo and Eliot Wolf at the top in their roles of head coach and executive vice president of player personnel, respectively.
Fast forward a year, and the Patriots find themselves in a new normal. Not only is Mayo gone, but his successor brought a more active voice when it comes to shaping the team: even with Wolf still around, Mike Vrabel is now hovering above New England’s roster construction process and somebody whose fingerprints will be all over the club.
Vrabel essentially confirmed as much during a sit-down with local media at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday.
“I wouldn’t be here and I wouldn’t have wanted to be the head coach here if I wasn’t comfortable in my impact on the roster,” he said when asked about the decision-making hierarchy between him, Wolf and newly-added Ryan Cowden and John “Stretch” Streicher.
“We want to continue to have great conversations with the personnel staff, with me, with Stretch, with coaching. We’re all just trying to find ways to bring the right players in here, whether that’s first free agency, middle free agency, or draft, or there’s going to be players that are going to be released that we will have to pivot to and have options.”
After spending eight years as a player in the Belichick system, Vrabel found himself in a comparatively traditional setup as a head coach. He worked alongside general managers Jon Robinson and Ran Carthon during his time with the Tennessee Titans, an arrangement that did lead to some friction before his departure in 2024.
Now back as a head coach following a one-year sabbatical with the Cleveland Browns, Vrabel seemingly will have more of a say over the roster. Regardless of his involvement or where he stands relative to Wolf, Cowden and Streicher, however, he knows that all of them will be judged by the results they help produce in whichever capacity.
In order to do so, the first step will be to improve a Patriots roster that went 4-13 in back-to-back season — something the entire front office is well-aware of.
“We need to strengthen the roster,” he said. “We understand that, and need have some really good conversations how to get there.”