May 28, 2025 • 11 mins
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel addresses the media prior to a team OTA at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, May 28, 2025.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, How are you good? Hi? Karen Mike.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
A video of Stefan Diggs. He's gotten a lot of
traction in the last twenty four hours or so. He's
on a boat having a good time. But the question
comes in as to a certain substance that people are
guessing what is and isn't. Is this something that the
team has to look into.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Well, it's something that we're aware of, and obviously we
want to make great decisions on and off the field,
and we're hoping that with our time here on the
field today and that when we don't have a script
and we're on the call up periods, that we're making
great decisions. And so the message will be the same
for all our players that we're trying to make great decisions,
and any conversations that I've had with Stefan will remain
(00:49):
between him and I and the club. Have you talk
to him since the video? I talked to our players
every single day, the ones that are here and the
ones that aren't. Uh not if he's not here, So
he's not here, you guys will find out in a minute.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
But no, again, he was here last week. A video.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Everything that we're going to do, Karen is We're going
to coach the guys that show up at eight. The
ones that say, hey, I got a situation will be
at eight o five. We'll coach those as well.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
This is a voluntary part of our off season program.
And uh, every player that's not here, which there aren't many,
been in communication with with me and their position coaches.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I was just going to ask, based on what you've
seen from the times he's been around, how would you
say he's progressing.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Again? The timelines and the prognosis and and everything at Again,
we're working hard to get him back and to be
ready to go. But you know when when, uh, when
he's when he's here, we'll coach him and we'll have
everything ready to go up. Uh. No, just that he
continues to to like our players card to get back
(02:00):
and UH excited to have him back again. The communication
that that I see every day with him and the
players in their meetings and in the Zoom meeting, and
I know that he's excited and hopefully we'll get him
back here sooner rather than later.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Last time we're out here for practice, Drake had a
few interceptions. Do you care how do you view moments
like that?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Well?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I care.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I think that I care about every player's performance and
that we continue to improve, and that there has been
great improvement over you know, the day. Everybody's going to
have a bad day, and there's a lot of reasons that,
you know, go into it. We're not going to analyze
every every single practice and and have explanations for for
(02:49):
things that came up. But the the command, the operation,
all those things have continued to improve. And and so
don't know who asked me, but you know what I
thought would be a successful day, and then sure enough
I told you those things weren't going to happen. So
hopefully the operation, the communication today, the execution has got
(03:12):
to be better. We only have so many of these opportunities,
and uh, and I'm hopeful that in front of us,
the crowd of media, that we have a better day.
Do you feel like the defense, it's fair to say
at this point, is further along in their install and
process and the offense.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
And if so, is how big is the gap?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Then well, I don't think that they're further along. I
think that it's probably I have not This is hard.
This is a hard time in the spring to when
every pass play is you know, third and ten. I
mean it's just their their pass rushing, their pressure and
they're blitzing, which is great. They we have to be
able to block and see everything. But it is a
(03:52):
passing camp and it didn't take the Keon and k
C and Christian and Milt and Harold long to figure
that out out. So it's it's kind of is what
it is, which is good. And then again they know
how to practice. We have to be able to speed
and pass rush and then stay away from a quarterback,
get out of the way, stay off the ground, all
those things that they've been able to do over the
(04:13):
course of you know, the first four OTAs the laundre was,
we talked.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
About it last week he was absent and then we
saw a photo post by the team that he was
back at practice. Just what was it like to get
him back in the mix of things.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Well, it's great to have everybody here. I want to
support him through this process the best that we can,
and that's probably a little bit more difficult. He doesn't
know us as well, and so his communication I appreciate it,
and you know, but it's great to have him back
and then we'll kind of work him along, make sure
that he's ready to get out there. So I don't
(04:46):
know how much you'll see him in some of the
live team action. I don't think that's fair to him
to just throw him back out there. But there's certainly
a return to play, like a lot of players will
have throughout the course of the year, a.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Lot of new faces the team this year, players coaches.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
How much of a focus this spring is team building
and just getting guys to learn each other because there
are so many new business I think that's important. I
think the execution is also important, the ability to work
with with another player out on the field, a guy
next to you. Linemen are going to move around, have
to pop in a different position, Quarterbacks are gonna have
to throw to different players. But I certainly think that
(05:24):
part of this process of playing this game is about
building relationships and connections with players and coaches alike. Will
you have a leading voice in Drake's development this year?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Some of the.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I would have, I hope, a voice in every player's
development on our football team.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Is it generally like.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
What would it be like you would it be Josh?
Do you guys have sort of one voice that's going
to take the leader or is it going to be
more collaborative, I think. But I have something to say
to Drake, I'll say it. And I think when Josh
wants to put plays in that can help him or
explain what the read is. It's gonna be things that
I'm not gonna be as knowledgeable at when it relates
to quarterbacks. But I think that there'll be some other
(06:05):
things that I can help them. And you know, we
don't have it scripted out. That's kind of our job
is to kind of figure out what what to say
and when you say it.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
We have a lot of numbers in the wide receiver
room over the course of time.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Hot, how do you see the.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Same number of everybody else in the National Football League?
But how we addressed that last week.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
When you watch these guys, what are you looking for
that separates them?
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Do they know what to do? Can they line up?
Can they catch the ball? Can they help the quarterback?
That that they play and they finish and they transition
when they don't how fast they play when they don't
have the flip on their hands? So uh, some of
that stuff we can see in the spring, and a
lot of that stuff will well materialize once we get
to training.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
Camp last year, wanted the last year. We generally recognize
it's two of the better safety cans in the league
back there. We're going to talk to Peppers later on today.
Do you feel good about that safety rotation? Sorting out
how they're gonna be, what they're gonna do.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I don't think anybody's really sorted out anything as far
as roles on this football team yet. I like the people,
I like the players. Haven't seen dugger on the field
just because he's working through something which you know is
not uncommon in the spring. I loved Jabriel's energy. I
like his his passion for the game. I like his
energy when he comes into building. Those things are all
(07:27):
very positive. And then the new players and the new
additions are are trying to carve out a role as well.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Could Streams so far so last week sort of rotating
at both guard spots as opposed to center.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Just you know, how has he done this early?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Uh, it's hard to really identify alignment. It's a lot
of pass protection and it's a you know, quick whistle
and there's no pads on. So again, Cole's working extremely hard.
The versatility that he'll he'll be able to display is
something that will be critical. You mentioned what do you
see from kesham Brudi so far in that regard the
(08:03):
same as everybody else working hard. I think that, uh,
he's gotten in better shape as we started to go
on to the OTAs, and I think that's really started
to help him as we stack plays together and we're
trying to string it. You know, in the game, you
don't just take a play on and just come off
and then go back and hopefully you can string together,
you know, four or five plays as we work down
(08:24):
the football field. So I think that he's working to
do that. And uh, you know, I like like his attitude.
I enjoy you know, his willingness to to continue to
improve and maybe do some things a little differently how
you like to be at the.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Pace of practice. We've only been out here for one
of them, but it looked like it was relatively intense
or a couple you know guys on the field.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
That means a lot coming from you, Phil, thank you,
you know.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Pretty good gauge and that pretty intense guy myself. But
how do you strike the balance between like you don't
want guys to be competitive, but you also don't want guys.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah, I think that's the biggest coach speak in the spring.
As you're talking out of both sides of your mouth.
It's like compete, but it's day up the compete, but
the receiver has the right to the football. You know,
we can't go through the through the back of them.
I think that the energy is there. I think the
urgency is there. I I'd like to see guys running
off the field, coming out on the field to take
(09:16):
the field, to be ready to go, breaking the huddle,
lining up, having an urgency to which we practice, and
I think all those things hopefully will lead to better
execution of questions.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Oberation for your involvement in practice. Watching the other day
was interesting to see you're coaching one on one with
players from different backgrounds, different paths here, different position. How
important is it for you? And it's face not obvious
to coach all ninety guys on your roster here and
the summer.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Well, I think it's important. I think I one, I
enjoy it, I I like it, I love it. I
try to be as knowledgeable at every position as I
possibly can, some more than others. We reference the quarterback,
but having something at each position group that that can
maybe translate from my perspective to help the player. But
(10:07):
then I also think that you know, where the head
coach is is probably what the players think are important.
So I try to be a little bit everywhere coaches
defensive scheme, it's still with a lot of veterans. How
do you feel that communication has been with these units
early on?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Again?
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Good good. I think that when you get to when
we split the squads up, I hear both fields talking
and communicating, and you know, you know, there's gonna be times,
hopefully a lot of times at our home games where
the defense is going to have to signal hands, signal,
eye contact, nonverbal communication because it's loud. We've created a
(10:42):
great environment by the way that we're playing, and our
fans are embracing that. So I think that that's always important.
Then obviously offensively, when we go on the road, we're
gonna have to have different silent counts and be on
the same page and in a in a loud environment.
The final question, guys, the hands on come from within you.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Was it just a transition from your playing days?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You seemed to be a lot more hands.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
On the most coaches in a good way with working
with every single player.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
When I got to a house state, they didn't leave
the manual underneath the desk, so I just kind of
went with whatever I felt like it was best for
me and fit my style, and it's kind of stuck.
Thank you,
Hi, How are you good? Hi? Karen Mike.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
A video of Stefan Diggs. He's gotten a lot of
traction in the last twenty four hours or so. He's
on a boat having a good time. But the question
comes in as to a certain substance that people are
guessing what is and isn't. Is this something that the
team has to look into.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Well, it's something that we're aware of, and obviously we
want to make great decisions on and off the field,
and we're hoping that with our time here on the
field today and that when we don't have a script
and we're on the call up periods, that we're making
great decisions. And so the message will be the same
for all our players that we're trying to make great decisions,
and any conversations that I've had with Stefan will remain
(00:49):
between him and I and the club. Have you talk
to him since the video? I talked to our players
every single day, the ones that are here and the
ones that aren't. Uh not if he's not here, So
he's not here, you guys will find out in a minute.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
But no, again, he was here last week. A video.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Everything that we're going to do, Karen is We're going
to coach the guys that show up at eight. The
ones that say, hey, I got a situation will be
at eight o five. We'll coach those as well.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
This is a voluntary part of our off season program.
And uh, every player that's not here, which there aren't many,
been in communication with with me and their position coaches.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I was just going to ask, based on what you've
seen from the times he's been around, how would you
say he's progressing.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Again? The timelines and the prognosis and and everything at Again,
we're working hard to get him back and to be
ready to go. But you know when when, uh, when
he's when he's here, we'll coach him and we'll have
everything ready to go up. Uh. No, just that he
continues to to like our players card to get back
(02:00):
and UH excited to have him back again. The communication
that that I see every day with him and the
players in their meetings and in the Zoom meeting, and
I know that he's excited and hopefully we'll get him
back here sooner rather than later.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Last time we're out here for practice, Drake had a
few interceptions. Do you care how do you view moments
like that?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Well?
Speaker 2 (02:25):
I care.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I think that I care about every player's performance and
that we continue to improve, and that there has been
great improvement over you know, the day. Everybody's going to
have a bad day, and there's a lot of reasons that,
you know, go into it. We're not going to analyze
every every single practice and and have explanations for for
(02:49):
things that came up. But the the command, the operation,
all those things have continued to improve. And and so
don't know who asked me, but you know what I
thought would be a successful day, and then sure enough
I told you those things weren't going to happen. So
hopefully the operation, the communication today, the execution has got
(03:12):
to be better. We only have so many of these opportunities,
and uh, and I'm hopeful that in front of us,
the crowd of media, that we have a better day.
Do you feel like the defense, it's fair to say
at this point, is further along in their install and
process and the offense.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
And if so, is how big is the gap?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Then well, I don't think that they're further along. I
think that it's probably I have not This is hard.
This is a hard time in the spring to when
every pass play is you know, third and ten. I
mean it's just their their pass rushing, their pressure and
they're blitzing, which is great. They we have to be
able to block and see everything. But it is a
(03:52):
passing camp and it didn't take the Keon and k
C and Christian and Milt and Harold long to figure
that out out. So it's it's kind of is what
it is, which is good. And then again they know
how to practice. We have to be able to speed
and pass rush and then stay away from a quarterback,
get out of the way, stay off the ground, all
those things that they've been able to do over the
(04:13):
course of you know, the first four OTAs the laundre was,
we talked.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
About it last week he was absent and then we
saw a photo post by the team that he was
back at practice. Just what was it like to get
him back in the mix of things.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Well, it's great to have everybody here. I want to
support him through this process the best that we can,
and that's probably a little bit more difficult. He doesn't
know us as well, and so his communication I appreciate it,
and you know, but it's great to have him back
and then we'll kind of work him along, make sure
that he's ready to get out there. So I don't
(04:46):
know how much you'll see him in some of the
live team action. I don't think that's fair to him
to just throw him back out there. But there's certainly
a return to play, like a lot of players will
have throughout the course of the year, a.
Speaker 4 (04:59):
Lot of new faces the team this year, players coaches.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
How much of a focus this spring is team building
and just getting guys to learn each other because there
are so many new business I think that's important. I
think the execution is also important, the ability to work
with with another player out on the field, a guy
next to you. Linemen are going to move around, have
to pop in a different position, Quarterbacks are gonna have
to throw to different players. But I certainly think that
(05:24):
part of this process of playing this game is about
building relationships and connections with players and coaches alike. Will
you have a leading voice in Drake's development this year?
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Some of the.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
I would have, I hope, a voice in every player's
development on our football team.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Is it generally like.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
What would it be like you would it be Josh?
Do you guys have sort of one voice that's going
to take the leader or is it going to be
more collaborative, I think. But I have something to say
to Drake, I'll say it. And I think when Josh
wants to put plays in that can help him or
explain what the read is. It's gonna be things that
I'm not gonna be as knowledgeable at when it relates
to quarterbacks. But I think that there'll be some other
(06:05):
things that I can help them. And you know, we
don't have it scripted out. That's kind of our job
is to kind of figure out what what to say
and when you say it.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
We have a lot of numbers in the wide receiver
room over the course of time.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Hot, how do you see the.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Same number of everybody else in the National Football League?
But how we addressed that last week.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
When you watch these guys, what are you looking for
that separates them?
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Do they know what to do? Can they line up?
Can they catch the ball? Can they help the quarterback?
That that they play and they finish and they transition
when they don't how fast they play when they don't
have the flip on their hands? So uh, some of
that stuff we can see in the spring, and a
lot of that stuff will well materialize once we get
to training.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
Camp last year, wanted the last year. We generally recognize
it's two of the better safety cans in the league
back there. We're going to talk to Peppers later on today.
Do you feel good about that safety rotation? Sorting out
how they're gonna be, what they're gonna do.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I don't think anybody's really sorted out anything as far
as roles on this football team yet. I like the people,
I like the players. Haven't seen dugger on the field
just because he's working through something which you know is
not uncommon in the spring. I loved Jabriel's energy. I
like his his passion for the game. I like his
energy when he comes into building. Those things are all
(07:27):
very positive. And then the new players and the new
additions are are trying to carve out a role as well.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Could Streams so far so last week sort of rotating
at both guard spots as opposed to center.
Speaker 3 (07:39):
Just you know, how has he done this early?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Uh, it's hard to really identify alignment. It's a lot
of pass protection and it's a you know, quick whistle
and there's no pads on. So again, Cole's working extremely hard.
The versatility that he'll he'll be able to display is
something that will be critical. You mentioned what do you
see from kesham Brudi so far in that regard the
(08:03):
same as everybody else working hard. I think that, uh,
he's gotten in better shape as we started to go
on to the OTAs, and I think that's really started
to help him as we stack plays together and we're
trying to string it. You know, in the game, you
don't just take a play on and just come off
and then go back and hopefully you can string together,
you know, four or five plays as we work down
(08:24):
the football field. So I think that he's working to
do that. And uh, you know, I like like his attitude.
I enjoy you know, his willingness to to continue to
improve and maybe do some things a little differently how
you like to be at the.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Pace of practice. We've only been out here for one
of them, but it looked like it was relatively intense
or a couple you know guys on the field.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
That means a lot coming from you, Phil, thank you,
you know.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Pretty good gauge and that pretty intense guy myself. But
how do you strike the balance between like you don't
want guys to be competitive, but you also don't want guys.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah, I think that's the biggest coach speak in the spring.
As you're talking out of both sides of your mouth.
It's like compete, but it's day up the compete, but
the receiver has the right to the football. You know,
we can't go through the through the back of them.
I think that the energy is there. I think the
urgency is there. I I'd like to see guys running
off the field, coming out on the field to take
(09:16):
the field, to be ready to go, breaking the huddle,
lining up, having an urgency to which we practice, and
I think all those things hopefully will lead to better
execution of questions.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Oberation for your involvement in practice. Watching the other day
was interesting to see you're coaching one on one with
players from different backgrounds, different paths here, different position. How
important is it for you? And it's face not obvious
to coach all ninety guys on your roster here and
the summer.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Well, I think it's important. I think I one, I
enjoy it, I I like it, I love it. I
try to be as knowledgeable at every position as I
possibly can, some more than others. We reference the quarterback,
but having something at each position group that that can
maybe translate from my perspective to help the player. But
(10:07):
then I also think that you know, where the head
coach is is probably what the players think are important.
So I try to be a little bit everywhere coaches
defensive scheme, it's still with a lot of veterans. How
do you feel that communication has been with these units
early on?
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Again?
Speaker 1 (10:21):
Good good. I think that when you get to when
we split the squads up, I hear both fields talking
and communicating, and you know, you know, there's gonna be times,
hopefully a lot of times at our home games where
the defense is going to have to signal hands, signal,
eye contact, nonverbal communication because it's loud. We've created a
(10:42):
great environment by the way that we're playing, and our
fans are embracing that. So I think that that's always important.
Then obviously offensively, when we go on the road, we're
gonna have to have different silent counts and be on
the same page and in a in a loud environment.
The final question, guys, the hands on come from within you.
Speaker 3 (11:00):
Was it just a transition from your playing days?
Speaker 1 (11:02):
You seemed to be a lot more hands.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
On the most coaches in a good way with working
with every single player.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
When I got to a house state, they didn't leave
the manual underneath the desk, so I just kind of
went with whatever I felt like it was best for
me and fit my style, and it's kind of stuck.
Thank you,
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