As New England’s Drake Maye enters his second season, there is an air of hope around the Patriots building. After a hiatus from success in the post-Tom Brady years, Patriots fans agree that Maye is the guy. That said, young quarterbacks are a fragile thing. They stand right on the brink of success and failure, largely determined by the circumstances around them.
Enter Mike Vrabel: a Super Bowl-winning Patriot as a player and culture-setting Head Coach at the helm of the Tennessee Titans. Vrabel turned a less-than-elite Titans roster into a perennial playoff team by setting a tone of toughness and physicality.
Certainly, running back Derrick Henry played a huge role for those teams on and off the field. Their success hinged on the run game, and Henry was the perfect medium. Let us remember, though, that Henry was widely considered a failure early on in Tennessee.
For many, Derrick Henry was a gimmick coming out of Alabama: a running back built like an edge rusher who wouldn’t contribute much in the pass game. For the first two years of his career, they were right.
Again, enter Mike Vrabel.
In 2018, Vrabel’s first year in charge of the Titans, Henry eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards for the first time in his career, in just 12 games started. His longest rush of the season was for 99 yards and he averaged 4.9 yards-per-carry. In the next two years, he averaged over 100 rushing yards per game (126.7 Y/G in 2020). In summary, Vrabel arrived, Henry thrived.
Drake Maye might be the biggest beneficiary of the Patriots head coaching change
Looking to the present day, Vrabel is clearly curating an organizational structure around Drake Maye’s potential. The first step was to hire Josh McDaniels. According to Robert Kraft, McDaniels was candidate #1 for Vrabel’s coaching staff, a nod to the massive success of the McDaniels/Brady duo.
It’s no secret that McDaniels has had his woes as a Head Coach, but he is undoubtedly one of the best Offensive Coordinators of the 21st century. Maye showed tremendous promise as a rookie, and McDaniels represents an immediate upgrade over Alex Van Pelt, both schematically and in terms of player development.
Looking to the 2025 NFL Season, the Patriots' expectations are clear and achievable. We want to compete and win games, but we understand that success takes time. It’s the perfect runway for Vrabel to establish his winning culture, much of which is derivative of his time under Belichick.
Despite the lack of success in recent years, the framework to win is in place: a promising young quarterback, an elite young cornerback, and a veteran coaching staff with years of success under their belts. It may not be immediate, and the achievements may not be overwhelming, but a Mike Vrabel team will always play a gritty brand of football and always be competitive when it matters.