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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. \u2014 The more you speak to people who have known Mike Vrabel for a long time, the more you\u2019ll hear a particular word to describe him. It\u2019s \u2026 not exactly a nice word, at least not when you take it at face value. But you have to understand that, for football players, they\u2019re using it as a term of endearment.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s my guy. He\u2019s so honest that it hurts. He\u2019s great, you\u2019ll love him. It\u2019s just that \u2026<\/i><\/p>\n
“Mike\u2019s kind of an asshole if you get to know him,”\u00a0Tom Brady said with a sarcastic smile back in 2021.<\/p>\n
“The first thing that comes to mind is an asshole,”\u00a0Julian Edelman said this year.<\/p>\n
And Larry Izzo, the former Patriots special teams ace and current Commanders assistant coach? Well, yes, the a-word came up during our conversation about New England’s head coach.<\/p>\n
“He can strike a nerve better than anybody,” Izzo told me. “It\u2019s a gift that he has in terms of pushing buttons. At any level of s–t-talking that I\u2019ve been around in my entire career \u2014 almost 30 years in the NFL going back to college \u2014 he is at an elite level in terms of being able to bust balls.”<\/p>\n
Added former Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel: “The verbal assault came with the physical assault.”<\/p>\n
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Patriots coach Mike Vrabel may have a blunt approach, but his methods have helped the team change its losing culture in a matter of months. (Photo by Danielle Parhizkaran\/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Let\u2019s be crystal clear: Every one of these former\u00a0teammates loves<\/i> Mike Vrabel. Izzo even lived at Vrabel\u2019s house for two months when they coached together for the Houston Texans in 2017. So that\u2019s the other word you\u2019ll hear a lot when talking to people about Vrabel: “Love.”<\/p>\n
It takes a special kind of person to bring people close while constantly challenging them.<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s a uniter,” Izzo said.<\/p>\n
More specifically, Vrabel is a hands-on uniter. The 50-year-old, who played linebacker for 14 NFL seasons, is famous for putting on pads and getting into the fray during practices and even pre-draft workouts. He went all-out with left tackle Will Campbell before the Patriots drafted the LSU product with the fourth overall pick this year. Vrabel worked through backside blocks and countless other drills against a 21-year-old stud prospect \u2014 for 60 minutes.<\/p>\n
More recently, Vrabel was cracking up as one of his 300-pound defensive linemen hit him repeatedly before a preseason game. His laugh sounded like pure joy, a tickled toddler.<\/p>\n
It shows another side to Vrabel. The dude loves ball. It\u2019s part of who he is, and maybe that\u2019s why he cares so much about getting things right. And about winning.<\/p>\n
“That’s his style,” Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams told me. “He always tells us that he was an asshole [as a player]. He says he’s still an asshole now. That\u2019s just how he coaches. He\u2019s gonna get the best out of us. He\u2019s really getting on you. He really just harps on the details.”<\/p>\n
Cassel, now an analyst for NBC, is one of Vrabel\u2019s friends who pushed back on the label, in part because it\u2019s reductive and incomplete.<\/p>\n
“That’s the easy way out \u2014 describing him, at times, as an asshole,” Cassel said. “It’s more of a joking way to say that he coaches the same way that he played. \u2026 He’s going to try to push you to get the best out of yourself. He’s also going to try to push you to the limit, to where you didn’t think that you could go, and actually make you understand, \u2018Look, I pushed you because I believed in you and got you here, and then we’ll show you that love when you get there.\u2019”<\/p>\n
Most of Vrabel’s players aren\u2019t interested in parsing the nuances of his bristly disposition, and they’re certainly not interested in calling him names. But there\u2019s a cultish obsession breaking out in the Patriots’ locker room around their coach. It\u2019s not just that the Patriots have rocketed to the top of the AFC standings. It\u2019s also that they appear to be at the dawn of a new era under their elite young quarterback, Drake Maye.<\/p>\n
Every person in the building follows Vrabel. You can call him a button-pusher. A chop-buster. A ball-buster. You can call him the a-word.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s all about another a-word: accountability. That\u2019s at the core of who Vrabel is as a man and as a coach.<\/p>\n
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Vrabel and Drake Maye have built a quick rapport, but that doesn’t mean the coach will hold back in his criticism of the emerging star quarterback. (Photo by Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
“You try to treat [the players] the same way they treat the team,” Vrabel told me. “If you treat the team like s—, hopefully you\u2019re not around very long. But if you are, I don\u2019t have much to say to you. But if you\u2019re somebody that treats the team well, knows what to do, shows up on time, plays hard, practices and does everything that you’re supposed to do, then I\u2019m willing to listen to what you have to say.”<\/p>\n
*** *** ***<\/p>\n
Everyone has a friend who\u2019s never wrong, good at everything and exasperatingly effective \u2026 at life. For Izzo, that was Vrabel.<\/p>\n
“When you get into an argument with Mike \u2014 or it’s like some s–t-talking back and forth \u2014 you’re never gonna win,” Izzo said. “You just get into an argument with him and you\u2019re like, \u2018This f—ing asshole.\u2019 But at the end of the day, you end up having more love for the guy.”<\/p>\n
Back in the early 2000s, whenever the Patriots\u2019 special teams unit couldn\u2019t get its act together and coach Bill Belichick wasn’t happy about it, there was one solution that worked better than any other. The solution wasn\u2019t a “what.” It was a “who,” and you already know “who.”<\/p>\n
Vrabel arrived in New England under the cover of anonymity, once a Steelers special-teams player who thought the Patriots would give him a shot to step into a starting linebacker role. He ended up converting that starting opportunity into a Pro Bowl nod and three Super Bowl wins. His former teammates attribute his sustained success to his grind-it-out mentality \u2014 no matter the role.<\/p>\n
As a starting linebacker, Vrabel wasn\u2019t a full-time contributor on special teams, but when called upon, he took it seriously. In fact, he was as good as any player on the roster at covering kicks and punts.<\/p>\n
That included Izzo, an all-time special teams great. So, when the unit was struggling, the coaches would tap Vrabel.<\/p>\n
“OK, you\u2019re up,” they\u2019d say.<\/p>\n
Vrabel would take the field for a kick return. He\u2019d run 70-something yards and be the first man to meet the returner for a tackle. Every freaking time.<\/p>\n
“It would drive me crazy,” Izzo said. “He would get up and celebrate, and he would walk off the field talking s— to the rest of us, me specifically.”<\/p>\n
Vrabel would say: “OK, I got mine. It’s your turn.”<\/p>\n
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Whether Vrabel knew it at the time, he was holding his teammates accountable in the same way he now holds his players accountable. Yes, he did it by talking a little trash, but also by targeting underperformance to help motivate and inspire those around him to achieve their full potential.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re all human. We all let our performance slip. At times, we all need reminding of who we can be.<\/p>\n
That’s when the best leaders step in.<\/p>\n
“For coaches, it’s about finding the balance around the psychological warfare of not becoming complacent after wins and after success,” Cassel said of Vrabel\u2019s tactics.<\/p>\n
I asked Vrabel how he’d coach himself, if he could speak to himself as a younger player. What piece of advice would Vrabel give?<\/p>\n
“The timing of your comments is important,” he said. “Timing is everything.”<\/p>\n
Vrabel admitted that he has to be careful with his prickly, brutally honest side. When he was a player, he could get away with a snarky comment here or a bit of smack talk there. As a coach? It’s a whole different animal because his words carry more weight.<\/p>\n
“As far as an asshole, I can be a good asshole, I can be a bad asshole,” Vrabel said. “There’s a wide range. Sometimes that’s a good thing, and sometimes I could probably take it to the other side.”<\/p>\n
Now in his seventh year as a head coach, Vrabel has learned to take more care of when and how he relays the difficult messages that are intended to help players. He can’t snap off a quippy comment “just because it’s on the tip of my tongue,” he said.<\/p>\n
“I have to be cautious of that. That’s what happens when you’re the head coach. You say things. People \u2014 it means something to them, positively and negatively. So a lot of that has to be intentional and understanding who the audience is,” Vrabel said.<\/p>\n
*** *** ***<\/p>\n
It was the first day of training camp on a hot July Sunday in Foxborough. Vrabel, in what he called “the honeymoon phase,” was in the process of reintroducing himself to New England. After stints with Ohio State, his alma mater, and with Houston, Tennessee and Cleveland in the NFL, he was conveying his coaching philosophies. The media asked what he thought would qualify as a successful camp, and he responded with a question.<\/p>\n
“Well, if we can remember what the objectives of training camp were, which were \u2014 do you remember?”\u00a0he asked.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d gone over them the day before in a media session, and yet no one could remember. These goals were clearly important to him. So, he decided to bust some chops.<\/p>\n
“No?” Vrabel smiled. “Build a team. Earn a role. Remember the last one?”<\/p>\n
Still: silence. “Prepare to win. You guys are on fire today. We’re off to a great start.”<\/p>\n
Everyone cracked up. We\u2019d been called out.<\/p>\n
Vrabel couldn\u2019t help himself from educating the media on what he was building. He gave us a snapshot of how he challenges people around him. It wasn\u2019t mean-spirited. It was with an intention.<\/p>\n
This was how meetings had been going with players and staff, too.<\/p>\n
“Hey, that’s how it is when we’re in a team meeting room,” receiver DeMario Douglas said. “So, you\u2019ve got to know your stuff.”<\/p>\n
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It hasn\u2019t stopped.<\/p>\n
At some point each week, Vrabel stands in front of his players and tells them how \u2014 if they’re not careful \u2014 the opposing team\u2019s star will absolutely run them over. One example: Bijan Robinson. Ahead of the Falcons game in Week 9, Vrabel let his guys know the havoc the runner could wreak.<\/p>\n
“I hope you\u2019re ready for such-and-such this week. He\u2019s going to run through y’all,” Williams imitated Vrabel saying. “He’s trying to get us pissed. Every week, it\u2019s been somebody new. He gets us ready to play.”<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not like Vrabel\u2019s speeches are inauthentic.<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s laying the facts out there,” backup quarterback Joshua Dobbs said. “That is true. If you give Bijan Robinson too much space, you saw what he did against the Buffalo Bills. He had 200 yards of offense. He\u2019s truthful in that.”<\/p>\n
Following this philosophy, you’d think that the best time to coach a team is after a loss, but that’s not how Vrabel sees it.<\/p>\n
“I think that when you win, you can coach them harder, because you won,” he said.<\/p>\n
Good thing the Patriots are 10-2.<\/p>\n
*** *** ***<\/p>\n
In the film room, Vrabel\u2019s criticism doesn’t bring the vibe down. It somehow brings his players closer to him.<\/p>\n
Not every player would walk away from that kind of meeting nodding in agreement. Not every coach can get his players to walk away from that kind of meeting nodding in agreement. But Vrabel can, maybe because, as a player, he sat through meetings\u00a0just like\u00a0<\/i>the ones he now conducts.<\/p>\n
Belichick was famous \u2014 or infamous \u2014\u00a0for laying into his players ahead of and after games. Vrabel played for Belichick from 2001 to 2008, which includes the perfect regular season in 2007 when Belichick was, as the legend goes, more critical than ever. Maybe knowing that he needed to bring balance on the tough days, Vrabel would try to mix things up. He was famous (and infamous) for joining the scout team (which starters don\u2019t normally do) just to piss off Brady. It was intense, sure. But it was also good for a laugh for the whole team.<\/p>\n
“It didn’t feel like a fun atmosphere at times because it was so regimented, it was so meticulous,” Cassel told me. “Even when we won, sometimes it felt like you lost because of how we were held accountable. But [Vrabel\u2019s antics] brought a little bit of levity to the situation.”<\/p>\n
If there\u2019s another thing Vrabel seems to have borrowed from Belichick, it\u2019s the top-to-bottom criticism of players on the roster. Brady was never safe from Belichick’s jabs, including the time-honored slight that “the starting quarterback at Foxborough High could make that pass.” Vrabel distances himself from the idea that he comes from Belichick\u2019s coaching tree, in part because he never worked as a coach for Belichick, but there are similarities.<\/p>\n
When Vrabel has a problem with his biggest star\u2019s play, he goes directly to that player.<\/p>\n
“My job is to try to protect the team, stay consistent and try to hold the best players the most accountable,” Vrabel said. “It sends a clear message to everybody throughout. If the quarterback makes a mistake, Drake makes a mistake, it doesn’t really do me any good to sit there and coach Tommy DeVito. I go right to the source. I think players appreciate the consistency.”<\/p>\n
They do.<\/p>\n
“It’s definitely good coaching,” veteran tight end Austin Hooper said. “I’ve been places where some coaches are afraid to talk to the superstars on the team and want to go hard in the paint on guys that are trying hard and are doing things the right way, but they’re not a superstar.<\/p>\n
“Here, everyone’s treated the same.”<\/p>\n
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Vrabel seems to treat everyone the same because he cares about them all the same, from the QB1 to the 16th man on the practice squad to the folks who run the cafeteria.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a trickle-down effect. Vrabel telling players what they don\u2019t want to hear creates an environment where players can speak to each other freely and provide constructive criticism. So Stefon Diggs, the team\u2019s veteran receiver, has often challenged and preached accountability with Maye, the team\u2019s star QB.<\/p>\n
“That\u2019s huge. I think that’s kind of what we’re trying to build around here,” Maye said. “I think it starts with the head coach telling you what you need to hear, instead of what you want to hear.”<\/p>\n
So, how does Vrabel get away with it?<\/p>\n
“Because [the conversations] come from a place of support, and that’s why you’re trying to build relationships, so that when people do tell you the truth, you don’t bristle at it,” he said. “If a stranger tells you the truth, you tell them to f— off. If somebody that you care about tells you the truth, you take a good hard look at it and say, ‘Hey, am I doing this the right way?\u2019”<\/p>\n
Though criticism is hard to hear, most people do appreciate hearing the truth. And that’s what Vrabel gives his players.<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t trust many people,” Diggs said. “I appreciate straight shooters, and you can tell me the truth, no matter what it is. I rock with you if it\u2019s the truth.”<\/p>\n
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Veteran receiver Stefon Diggs appreciates Mike Vrabel’s straightforward approach. (Photo by Matthew J. Lee\/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
*** *** ***<\/p>\n
Vrabel bled from a gash on his face. His staffers and players stared at him as he applied an ice pack, which quickly turned red. A week before his 50th birthday, Vrabel had jumped into a pile of Patriots and Commanders players during a joint practice on Aug. 6.<\/p>\n
“I was like, \u2018That is sick. That is sick! I love that,\u2019” Patriots guard Jared Wilson said. “Ever since then, I\u2019m like, \u2018That\u2019s the guy right there.\u2019 It just gets me going. It makes me want to run through a wall. Your coach is willing to do things for you. \u2026 I don\u2019t think a lot of coaches would do that.”<\/p>\n
The first reaction was that the coach was setting the tone. Bringing intensity. “Taking no crap,” as Maye said after practice. But it wasn\u2019t about escalating. It was about\u00a0de-escalating<\/i>.<\/p>\n
That’s another side of Vrabel.<\/p>\n
You may have seen the videos of him waiting outside the locker room to hug every single one of his players after a game. Maybe you\u2019ve seen the photo of\u00a0Vrabel holding Christian Barmore\u2019s hand after he suffered a back injury, this after Vrabel had benched the defensive end earlier this season. Maybe you caught that moment where Vrabel seemed\u00a0to be building up Maye on the sideline in the Week 9 game against the Falcons, which the Patriots won 24-23 despite the second-year QB throwing an interception and taking six sacks.<\/p>\n
Even when Vrabel was a bad-boy enforcer as a player \u2014 kicking rookies out of the training room because he wanted a table \u2014 he also took care of his teammates. In 2008, practice-squad defensive lineman Vince Redd needed a place to stay, so he lived in Vrabel\u2019s basement for the whole year. Former Patriots linebacker Pierre Woods also had a long stay at Ch\u00e2teau Vrabel.<\/p>\n
“I’d say, \u2018Hey, you guys need a place to stay \u2014 but just until you find a place?\u2019 Next thing we know, they were having Thanksgiving dinner with us,” Vrabel said, referring to his wife, Jennifer, and their two sons. “They just lived in the basement. Yeah, they get their laundry done. I’d come home from practice, and Vince would be sitting there at the kitchen table with the boys, and Jen would be making dinner. \u2026 These guys were young players. It saved them some money on a place to stay. It didn’t matter to me. Certainly didn’t matter to Jen. Whatever we can do to help.”<\/p>\n
The Vrabels would host as many as 25 players for Thanksgiving and Christmas \u2014 even when they had two young kids running around. And remember: Most of those 25 people were NFL players whose portions could sustain the average person for days.<\/p>\n
Think of how many pounds of potatoes! Of how many turkeys!<\/p>\n
Vrabel’s generosity didn’t stop when he became a coach. When he was working for the Texans, he let new-hire coaches \u2014 Izzo, Wes Welker and John Perry \u2014 live with his family for whatever time period they needed.<\/p>\n
“That’s the kind of family that he had,” Izzo said. “That was a big part of why we were successful in New England. It was just because of that, that closeness that we had as a team.”<\/p>\n
*** *** ***<\/p>\n
Despite his brutal honesty, Vrabel\u00a0can<\/i> be wrong. He\u2019s human. What makes him a good coach is that he can\u00a0admit<\/i> when he\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n
Patriots linebacker Jack Gibbens remembers one moment in 2022, back in Vrabel\u2019s days as the Titans’ coach. Gibbens was an undrafted rookie who came off the practice squad to help replace an injured starter. It was a third down against the Chargers. And before the snap, there was chaos.<\/p>\n
“Everybody was running all over the place. We couldn’t get lined up,” Gibbens said.<\/p>\n
Right before the snap, Gibbens and his safety made a pre-snap decision to switch marks in coverage. Gibbens handed off the running back to the safety and took up coverage of the tight end. To Gibbens\u2019 delight, the defensive line made quick work of the quarterback.<\/p>\n
But when Gibbens saw Vrabel on the sideline, it did not look like the coach was going to congratulate him.<\/p>\n
“He’s chewing me out. He’s like, \u2018You’re supposed to have the back here.\u2019 I was like, \u2018I know, but the safety said he had the back so I covered his guy.\u2019 And he was like, \u2018All right’ and walked away,” Gibbens said.<\/p>\n
That was it. Gibbens had an explanation. Vrabel backed off.<\/p>\n
“If you know what to do, he’ll definitely put that trust in you and let you kind of make things happen on the field,” Gibbens said.<\/p>\n
The next week, Gibbens played 72% of the defensive snaps and, the week after, he played 100% of the team\u2019s defensive snaps. Clearly, he\u2019d made a good first impression.<\/p>\n
More recently, during his early days as New England’s coach, Vrabel realized that players grew hushed when he entered the cafeteria. Sure, the 6-foot-4, 260-pound coach has a big presence, but that’s not the work environment he wants.<\/p>\n
“My job is to have a relationship or connection with everybody here, players and staff included,” Vrabel said.<\/p>\n
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So, during a team meeting, he spoke to the team about the cafeteria dynamics \u2014 and the quiet that followed him around the building.<\/p>\n
“He just wanted everyone to be comfortable,” said cornerback Carlton Davis, who joined the Patriots as a free agent before the season. “You can get the best out of everybody when they\u2019re comfortable, not when they\u2019re all tensed up and scared to make a mistake.”<\/p>\n
As tough as Vrabel can be, multiple Patriots players agreed that “accommodating” was the right word to describe him. They respect him because he was \u2014 and sometimes still thinks he is \u2014 a player. He understands how hard it is to make an NFL roster, earn a special teams role, earn a starting role, snag a Pro Bowl nod and win a Super Bowl (or three).<\/p>\n
“<\/strong>He’s the most in-tune coach that I’ve probably played for,” Davis said. “You could tell he puts himself in our shoes, whether it’s the game, practice, scheduling, meetings, he’s always there. He’s super involved.”<\/p>\n *** *** ***<\/p>\n There was a time when Vrabel wasn\u2019t certain he\u2019d come back to the NFL.<\/p>\n In 2014, he’d just finished his third season as a position coach for Ohio State. The Buckeyes had won 24 of their last 26 games under Urban Meyer, and Texans coach Bill O\u2019Brien wanted to poach Vrabel as a linebackers coach.<\/p>\n Even though it meant a step up, he wasn\u2019t certain it was the right move. So he called Izzo, who at the time was the assistant special teams coordinator for Tom Coughlin\u2019s Giants. Izzo\u2019s message to his close friend was simple.<\/p>\n “You’re gonna crush it. You\u2019re going to be a D-coordinator in like two, three years. This is going to lead to where you want to go,” Izzo told Vrabel. “Bro, take it. You\u2019re going to rise quickly.”<\/p>\n Vrabel started his coaching career in 2011 as a linebackers coach at Ohio State, his alma mater. Three years later, the NFL came calling. (Photo by David Dermer\/Diamond Images\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n By 2017, Vrabel was the Texans’ defensive coordinator. By 2018, he was the Titans’ head coach. It was a quick rise indeed. He spent six seasons in Tennessee, making the playoffs three times. After he was fired in 2023, he worked as a consultant for the Browns, appearing on practice fields and in drills with players, just like always. And then Patriots owner Robert Kraft scooped him up to replace Jerod Mayo after a 4-13 season, New England’s second in a row.<\/p>\n Vrabel took a teardown approach to the roster, with some help from Kraft, who invested in this roster and this coaching staff to fuel the turnaround.<\/p>\n The Patriots added big names like Williams and Diggs, as well as under-the-radar culture guys and unsung playmakers like Mack Hollins, K’Lavon Chaisson, Jaylinn Hawkins, Hooper and Garrett Bradbury. The rookie class has also thrived. The Patriots also boldly dealt former starters and high draft picks Kyle Dugger, Keion White and Ja\u2019Lynn Polk around the trade deadline. They\u00a0sold<\/i> but continued ascending.<\/p>\n To quote the movie “Miracle,” it\u2019s about having the\u00a0right<\/i> players \u2014 not the best players. It\u2019s about finding guys who want to be crucial pieces of Vrabel\u2019s vision and can handle Vrabel\u2019s blended kindness and criticism.<\/p>\n “He\u2019s going to strike a nerve, but the message is getting delivered,” Izzo said. “I think all of that helps him connect in his role as a coach now.”<\/p>\n There\u2019s a fine line between insulting someone and ribbing them. In every conversation, Vrabel seems to find that line. And then he crosses it \u2014 by millimeters\u00a0\u2014 just to see what you\u2019ll do.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Patriots coach Mike Vrabel knows how to push buttons, and he’s pushed all the right ones in turning around the franchise in his first year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38801,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-england-patriots"],"yoast_head":"\n\n![\"Game](\"https:\/\/a57.foxsports.com\/statics.foxsports.com\/www.foxsports.com\/content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0\/0\/gettyimages-154037016.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
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