FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Mike Vrabel was hired as New England Patriots coach seven months ago to recalibrate a team that hasn’t won a playoff game since its most recent Super Bowl win in the 2018 season, and has slumped to 4-13 finishes the past two seasons.
Everything Vrabel has done, from hiring his coaching staff to building out the roster through free agency and the draft, has been about laying a foundation for his first season.
As important as all those steps and initial spring workouts have been in the process, the work begins in earnest Wednesday with the start of training camp. He said his message to his new team will be simple.
“It’s time to build a team,” Vrabel said. “We have to start coming together as a football team.”
Vrabel arrived at Foxborough having shared history with each of his two predecessors — winning two Super Bowls as a player under Bill Belichick and then playing his final season in New England alongside Belichick successor Jerod Mayo.
When he was hired in January, Vrabel said his initial goal would be to put together a team capable of taking advantage of opponents when they play bad football.
That’s still an ongoing project, but one that he believes they’ve made headway on.
“We’re closer than where we were in March or April when we got here. I think we are,” Vrabel said. “I think the players are starting to understand. We talk about the good, the bad, and the (stuff) that gets you beat, and I think that they can tell the difference between those three now.”
Special teamer Brenden Schooler, who earned his first All-Pro selection last season, said the no-nonsense vibe Vrabel has introduced is noticeable around the team facility.
“You’re not scared, but you know he’s not messing around,” Schooler said.
One thing that has helped Vrabel make an early impression is that he won’t be coaching any players that have links to the Patriots most recent run of success.
Following the release of long snapper Joe Cardona in April, there are no remaining players on New England’s roster that were on the 2018 Super Bowl team.
As he begins the process of whittling down the 91 players that will begin camp, Vrabel said he wants to see them not just try to make the roster but carve out a role with the team.
“There’s a lot of different levels to what those roles are, and in my 14-year career I’ve had plenty of them: from special teams, multiple-position backup, to starter, a starter that was expected to be productive, to a veteran leader,” Vrabel said. “So, there’s multiple levels of what that role will be, and it’s up to them to earn it.”.
No limits for Diggs
Receiver Stefon Diggs passed his physical and will be practicing without limitations nine months after undergoing season-ending knee surgery.
“It’s just a testament to how hard he worked,” Vrabel said. “Is he going to take every single rep of every single period? No, and I don’t think any player will. But I think we’re off to a good start and encouraged by what we saw here in the last couple of days.”
A four-time Pro Bowl selection, Diggs had six straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons for the Vikings and Bills before he was traded from Buffalo to Houston last spring. He had 47 catches for 496 yards and three touchdowns in eight games for the Texans before he tore the ACL in his right knee in October.
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