The New England Patriots are in Phase II of revamping their roster into a Super Bowl winner. In 2025, Mike Vrabel conducted an offseason for the ages and almost miraculously brought his Cinderella-like team to the Super Bowl.
It was the beginning of a phased rebuild, but not everyone at Gillette Stadium is sure it is. Executive Vice President of Player Personnel, Eliot Wolf doesn't know if he'd "call it a rebuild".
Whether it's called a "rebuild", revamping, restructuring, or another name anyone would suggest along those lines, it most certainly was a major remodeling. Vrabel inherited an arguably worst-in-the-NFL 4-13 roster in the 2025 offseason, and the major changes and additions will continue in the 2026 offseason. No matter what anyone calls it, it is what it was, the first phase of rebuilding a poor roster.
Wolf built the 2024 roster in one of the worst offseasons in recent memory. It was only mitigated by drafting quarterback Drake Maye with the third pick overall in 2025. Absent that, it was a disaster.
The Patriots' roster revamp under Mike Vrabel is a rebuild, period
Patriot Nation should question what was worse, Wolf's 2024 offseason or his stating now that he doesn't think the Patriots are in a "rebuild" at all.
Either interpretation is puzzling in light of his recent comments.
Eliot Wolf says the #Patriots are NOT in a rebuild:
— Patriots on CLNS (@PatriotsCLNS) February 24, 2026
"I don't know that I'd call it a rebuild. I think we have a nice core of players."
"Every year is an opportunity in free agency and the draft to improve the roster... We're going to explore everything that we can."
-… pic.twitter.com/3cz1OeKuqq
Perhaps Wolf didn't consider the roster he handed to Vrabel (the de facto head of personnel, who should be promoted to President of Football Operations) in 2025 worthy of a rebuild at all?
That Patriots team finished 2024 with a 4-13 record, with a win in the last game of the season, gifted to them gladly by the Buffalo Bills, costing them the first overall draft pick and massive draft capitalizing opportunities in the process.
MIke Vrabel knows what to do in the 2026 offseason
Thankfully, Kraft finally got his head coaching and personnel head right by hiring Vrabel last season to run the football operation. No one with any powers of observation of the NFL will question that the difference in the Patriots' personnel operation from 2024 to 2025 was as wide as the Grand Canyon. It was all the result of hiring him.
Patriot Nation can take heart that Vrabel will once again be running the Patriots' personnel operation along with his hand-picked expert, John "Stretch" Streicher.
Thankfully, the rest of the personnel operation will again aid the cause as backroom assistants, serving up scouting data and likely having little influence on final decision-making.
Vrabel emphatically demonstrated that his seven years of experience as a two-time NFL Coach of the Year qualify him to be the Patriots' ultimate personnel decision-maker and on-field general.
His brilliant 2025 offseason attests to that fact. Now, it's incumbent on Vrabel to at least approximate last offseason's masterpiece in 2026. If he does, the Patriots will right back in the thick of the NFL's playoff and Super Bowl races. And, maybe this year, they'll win it.