{"id":15454,"date":"2025-02-26T11:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-26T11:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=15454"},"modified":"2025-02-26T11:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T11:44:08","slug":"callahan-mike-vrabel-pulling-patriots-back-closer-to-a-bill-belichick-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=15454","title":{"rendered":"Callahan: Mike Vrabel pulling Patriots back closer to a Bill Belichick model"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"In<\/p>\n

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 If there was any lingering doubt, forget it.<\/p>\n

The Patriots are Mike Vrabel\u2019s team. Through and through.<\/p>\n

He built the new coaching staff. He reorganized the top of the front office. Soon, he will remake the roster, and on Tuesday he told you it will take just six months for that roster to look unrecognizable from the one you last saw.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what the roster looks like today is going to be vastly different than what it looks like in the end of August,\u201d Vrabel said at the NFL Scouting Combine. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of time. The fit \u2013 the players will determine their role, just like we always say.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ironically enough, Vrabel appears to have done just that.<\/p>\n

Armed with as much leverage as a head-coaching candidate could ever carry into an interview, Vrabel seems to have dictated to the Krafts last month the franchise would return to a version of the Belichickian power structure. The head coach is the alpha and omega once again in Foxboro, something Vrabel hinted at Tuesday when asked about roster control.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I wouldn\u2019t be here, and I wouldn\u2019t have wanted to be the head coach here if I wasn\u2019t comfortable in my impact on the roster,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Not that he stopped there in his answer. Vrabel is wise enough to spread public credit around, and knows every press conference doubles as an opportunity to reinforce the message to those who report to you; which now apparently includes everyone in football operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to continue to have great conversations with the personnel staff,\u201d he continued, speaking about the front-office structure, \u201cMe, with Stretch (Patriots vice president of football operations and strategy John Streicher), with (the) coaching (staff). We\u2019re all just trying to find the ways to bring the right players in here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Callahan:
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel speaks during a press conference at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo\/Michael Conroy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Streicher, by the way, is a walking, talking reminder of the Belichickian model. Working for Vrabel in Tennessee, he rose from special assistant to the head coach in 2018 to director of football administration five years later; the same title Belichick\u2019s assistant, Berj Najarian, once held.<\/p>\n

Streicher is well-regarded in league circles as a sharp thinker and master of game management, hence the new title in New England. On Tuesday, Streicher shadowed Vrabel during his brief combine media tour, much like a personal assistant would. Or as Vrabel later described him, an extension of the head coach; just as Najarian did for Belichick in countless ways over two-plus decades.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Streicher)\u2019s meant a lot to me,\u201d Vrabel said. \u201cHe\u2019s meant a lot to the success that we had in Tennessee. His growth, in this business of NFL football, the connections that he makes with our staff and our players, and they know that he\u2019s an extension of me. If they need to, maybe they don\u2019t have a strong enough connection with me to say something, they\u2019ll certainly be able to find an avenue with (Streicher) as a point of contact.\u201d<\/p>\n

But enough about the assistants. Let\u2019s get to what matters.<\/p>\n

Vrabel is here because the Patriots stink. Their roster and infrastructure rotted out for too long not to make sweeping changes, which the Patriots have. Multiple team sources expressed in Indianapolis that Vrabel has provided a much clearer vision compared to a year ago, when the franchise\u2019s north star was simply reversing all things Belichick.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s detailed, clear and direct; specific in what he wants from the coaches and front office, and confident in the plans they\u2019ve laid together on how to revitalize the roster via free agency and the draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur expectations aren\u2019t going to change,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be to win the division. It\u2019s going to be to host home playoff games. It\u2019s going to be to compete for championships. We\u2019re never going to put a timetable or any sort of prediction on when that may happen. But it has to happen, and it\u2019s going to start April 7 when our guys come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vrabel continued: \u201cWe\u2019re going to have a program. We\u2019re going to build a foundation. We\u2019re going to give (fans) something to believe in and be proud of.\u201d<\/p>\n

After three straight losing seasons, pride is a feeling that has not resonated with the fan base in some time. Hope flickered last year, starting with Jerod Mayo\u2019s own offseason comments and then a Week 1 win. But trouble sprouted early and often during the season until it became clear, even to ownership, he wasn\u2019t ready for the job.<\/p>\n

In reporting on the demise of the 2024 Patriots, one team source lamented how ownership could ever believe a first-time head coach would be capable of saving the franchise.<\/p>\n

To fix their Mayo mistake, the Krafts have bet on a second-time head coach to be that savior.<\/p>\n

Vrabel holds the power.<\/p>\n

What will he do with it?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Patriots are Mike Vrabel\u2019s team so much so it seems he has a Belichickian level of control.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[531,74,370,227,439,225,226,440],"class_list":["post-15454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-england-patriots","tag-mike-vrabel","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl-draft","tag-nfl-news","tag-nfl-rumors","tag-patriots","tag-patriots-news","tag-patriots-rumors"],"yoast_head":"\nCallahan: Mike Vrabel pulling Patriots back closer to a Bill Belichick model - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=15454\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Callahan: Mike Vrabel pulling Patriots back closer to a Bill Belichick model - 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