Why Mike Vrabel faces a massive task in rebuilding Patriots-ZoomTech News

The New England Patriots, apparently, will not be within the enterprise of creating coaches. They employed Mike Vrabel on Sunday morning to exchange Jerod Mayo, whose tenure as New England’s coach lasted shorter than one calendar 12 months.

The enchantment with Vrabel is easy: He’s what the Patriots hoped Mayo would possibly sometime be. Vrabel is customized for playoff-level teaching, however his new group is nearly as removed from playoff degree as a roster can get. 

Patriots proprietor Robert Kraft mentioned he determined to fireside Mayo as a result of the group “regressed” over the 12 months, with an upset over the Bengals in Week 1 however then failing to put up a decent win previous that time. 

“I really feel horrible for Jerod as a result of I put him in an untenable scenario,” Kraft mentioned Monday. “He simply wanted extra time earlier than taking the job. Ultimately, I am a fan of this group first. And now, I’ve to exit and discover a coach who can get us again to the playoffs and hopefully, championships.”

There are the expectations. Laid out.

Get New England again to the playoffs. And the Tremendous Bowl.

That is what having Invoice Belichick and Tom Brady for twenty years will do to a company. These guys set the websites as excessive as two males can within the NFL.

How shortly does Kraft count on Vrabel to make a playoff run?

As a result of this group is not shut.

At no level this season did New England appear like it had the requisite expertise to make the playoffs. Whereas quarterback Drake Maye is as promising as any rookie on this 12 months’s class, he additionally struggled to shut out video games, with a handful of late turnovers that basically ended his group’s hopes of successful. 

He wanted assist: on the offensive line, at receiver, on the defensive position, at linebacker. 

That was apparent. However the resolution is not clear-cut.

New England had hassle buying expertise final 12 months, with a whiff on a free-agency flirtation with Calvin Ridley and one other miss in commerce talks with the 49ers relating to Brandon Aiyuk. The Patriots wished to improve at receiver. They have been able to spend picks and money. And nonetheless, they could not land one.

This 12 months can be one other robust marketplace for weapons. If the Bengals prolong or franchise tag Tee Higgins, then it is grim. Receivers Chris Godwin, Stefon Diggs, DeAndre Hopkins, Amari Cooper and Tyler Lockett (a possible cap casualty) needs to be accessible — however they’re all within the WR2 section of their careers, at finest. 

The Patriots’ finest guess to land a WR1 could be within the commerce market. However is Deebo Samuel definitely worth the danger after a sequence of unproductive seasons? How about Michael Pittman? Would the Seahawks even commerce DK Metcalf? 

It is the identical downside at sort out, with the Ravens’ Ronnie Stanley scheduled to hit free company — however not prone to make it there due to an imminent franchise tag. You may work down the record, and it is not fairly. It isn’t the place you’d usually need to put tens of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}.

However the Patriots, who’ve round $120 million in cap house, should take some dangers in free company (which they have been unwilling to do final 12 months). Vrabel’s status across the league is stable, and with Maye placing up good tape, the 2 of them ought to be capable to entice a greater free-agent class than New England did final 12 months. However that is not saying a lot. 

If Vrabel and Maye hope to win shortly, and impress Kraft, the Patriots might want to do what Mayo received in hassle for saying final offseason: Burn some money.

New England will need to rebuild within the draft, which is Kraft’s most popular methodology. However the proprietor additionally confirmed his impatience this 12 months. Growing by the draft takes time, notably if the 2024 draft class is as large of a bunch of busts because it appears — exterior of Maye, in fact.

Worse nonetheless, Mayo’s ultimate act as coach was to beat the Payments in Week 18, which despatched New England from selecting No. 1 general to No. 4 within the 2025 draft. That is a gulf price roughly a future first-round and future second-round decide in a commerce. And it is seemingly the Patriots would’ve tried to make precisely that transfer by dealing Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders to the very best bidder. 

When FOX Sports activities spoke with Patriots VP of participant personnel Eliot Wolf earlier than Week 18, he mentioned the group did not fairly get the “inner improvement” it had hoped for out of the 2024 draft class. 

That is the place Vrabel must shine. His workers must elevate gamers like receiver Ja’Lynn Polk, whom the scouting division thought was “plug and play” but managed simply 12 catches for 87 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie. That is a typical single-game stat line for Ladd McConkey, whom the Chargers took within the spot from which New England traded down. 

You may’t fault a group for desirous to accrue picks within the draft, which might be such a crapshoot. It is simply that, aside from Maye, the Patriots’ 2024 draft class has but to provide. Rookie offensive linemen Layden Robinson and Caedan Wallace did not but look able to contribute. Nor did Polk or Javon Baker, a fellow rookie receiver. The Patriots picked these 4 gamers in rounds 2 by 4. 

The quantity method has but to bear fruit. 

To repair the issues, Vrabel might want to do mainly all the pieces Mayo couldn’t: rent a training workers able to making a roster look higher than it’s; develop inner expertise for the long run; recruit exterior expertise in a tricky offseason. And it would not damage if the workers turned Maye right into a top-10 QB.

That is a protracted to-do record.

That is a lofty to-do record.

Vrabel is inheriting a home with out partitions, with no kitchen, with no toilet. All he has is a body (and, sure, that is Maye on this metaphor). Kraft appears to be saying he desires to stay in that house by September.

If that is true, Vrabel is in hassle.

Previous to becoming a member of FOX Sports activities as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years protecting the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports activities Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Comply with him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

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