Eliot Wolf’s future & 5 other takeaways from Mike Vrabel’s Patriots introduction – Boston.com
By Conor Ryan The Mike Vrabel era has officially begun.The Patriots introduced their 16th head coach in franchise history on Monday afternoon at Gillette Stadium, with both Vrabel and Patriots team owner Robert Kraft offering insight on the team’s short coaching search, the state of the franchise, and Vrabel’s vision for the future. Along with Vrabel’s focus on changing New England’s culture — as well as his plans for developing Drake Maye — here are six other takeaways from Monday’s press conference. While most of Monday’s press conference featured Vrabel fielding questions from the media, Kraft opened the event with a few words on why New England shifted its focus to the former linebacker after firing Jerod Mayo earlier this month.“In the interview process, Mike showed us that he had a very deep understanding of our current team, and most importantly, he had a clear and focused strategy of how to get us back to the championship way that is not only so important to all of us, but also something that I think our fan base really deserves and expects,” Kraft acknowledged.While Vrabel noted that he interviewed with other NFL teams (including the Jets) during this coaching cycle, he added that it became clear quickly that New England is where he wanted to be.“I want to thank the teams that were willing to meet with me through this process to give me an opportunity to potentially lead their team, but in the end, it was clear to me and to my family and my soul that this was the place that I wanted to be, and I thank Robert, and I thank the Kraft family,” Vrabel noted.It remains to be seen how Vrabel will augment New England’s coaching staff moving forward, especially when it comes to who he tabs to run the team’s offense and develop Drake Maye. But beyond New England’s coaches, could Vrabel’s arrival signal major upheaval on the team’s front-office and player-personnel staff? While Vrabel tip-toed around some questions about who will serve as the team’s leader on the personnel side, he referenced executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf on several occasions Monday. “Eliot is going to laugh. I’m going to say good ones,” Vrabel said with a smile when asked which types of players he hopes the Patriots bring in this offseason. While Wolf — who served as New England’s de-facto GM this season — deserves plenty of criticism for his poor roster construction and whiffs during the 2024 NFL Draft, Kraft noted last week that he expected Wolf to remain with the organization in 2025. “I’m just excited to sit down with Eliot and his staff,” Vrabel said of Wolf. “I’ve met more with Eliot over the weekend … I’ve had conversations with him, but I need to sit down with his staff and figure out where we’re at, what we need to do. I’m confident that those types of decisions are all going to sort themselves out.“We don’t always want to be on the same page. That’s not the environment we want to create. But we want to have a shared vision, and there’s also different ways to get there. I’m embracing that everyone’s going to have a different personality.”The reported arrival of Ryan Cowden to the team’s front office in 2025 is worth monitoring as far as the power structure in New England. Cowden has plenty of familiarity with Vrabel, as he served as the vice president of personnel with the Titans during Vrabel’s tenure with the organization. According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, Cowden will serve as the second-in-command behind Wolf on the team’s personnel department. As expected, Vrabel remained mum on the topic of Cowden and other potential hirings on Monday. “Eliot and I will have conversations,” Vrabel said. “As with any staff, there’s going to be turnover, there’s going to be new coaches and new faces, some that I will have history with and some that I won’t. And that’s what the interview process is.”Despite names like Josh McDaniels already being tossed around as potential fits on Vrabel’s staff, the Patriots’ new head coach stressed that the team has just started the process of evaluating the coaching personnel in New England. “That’s far from solidified,” Vrabel said. “We want to put the best talented coaches in front of our players. When they stand in front of these players, I want the players to embrace what every coach is teaching. I will tell you this, as long as I’m the head coach here, our coaches will have three simple jobs — and they sound simple, and they’re probably not as simple as we want to make them be. “They want to teach, they want to develop, and they want to inspire our players by making a connection. We’re going to make strong connections with our players so that we can coach them and we can push them. I’ve really believed in this system, and I believe in having great teachers, great developers, and also coaches that will inspire our men by making a connection so that they know exactly what makes them tick.”While continuing to aid in Drake Maye’s development is among the top priorities for Vrabel and his coaching staff in 2025, the team also has flaws worth addressing across the roster.While the case can be made that New England is woefully short handed in terms of receiving threats, pass rushers, and linebackers, Vrabel harped on the team’s need to bolster the offensive line moving forward. “You look at the teams that are able to protect the QB and dictate the flow of the game offensively, making sure that, up front, we’re sound, we’re strong,” Vrabel said. “Whether that’s through free agency or through the draft, that’s something that’s critical. The D-linemen, they’re getting better every year, they’re getting more disruptive, they’re getting bigger, they’re getting more powerful, so as they try to affect our QB, we have to have some things that counterbalance that.”Even though Vrabel quickly developed into a well-respected football coach after retiring as a player in 2010, he said that it was important to chart his own course to where he is today — rather than begin coaching in New England on Bill Belichick’s staff. “The opportunity at one point probably presented itself to be here coaching, but I felt like it was important to forge my own path somewhere else,” Vrabel said. “If all of those experiences led me back here at the right time and the right opportunity, then that was gonna be what was meant to be.”Even with Vrabel’s ties to New England during his playing days, he added that he doesn’t view himself as a coach in the same mold as Belichick.“I’m not Bill, and I’m not Bill Cowher, I’m not anyone other than me,” Vrabel said. “I’ve taken those experiences, and I’ve tried to form what I believe is critical to the success of a football team and an organization.“To say what those are going to look like, hopefully just as successful. And our goals will be to win the AFC East, to host home playoff games, and to compete for championships. That’s what it’s going to take.”Even though the Patriots have plenty of work to do when it comes to righting the ship after back-to-back four-win seasons, Vrabel said that his relationship with the Krafts — coupled with the potential already in place on New England’s roster — made reuniting with the Patriots an offer too good to pass up. “I think the ability to have open dialogue with Robert and Jonathan was something that was critical, Eliot and his staff, obviously what I believe and what everybody else believes is a young, dynamic quarterback,” Vrabel said. “We have some youth on the roster. We have some veteran players who have kind of seen both sides of it and understand, and that will help me and will help our players get back to that success and understand how hard it is.” Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.Sign up to receive the latest headlines in your inbox each morning.Be civil. Be kind.©2025 Boston Globe Media Partners, LLC
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