The 2025 Patriots have a new look all over the field. Mike Vrabel has not only brought in a superb coaching staff, but he's given them solid tools to work with. Vrabel conducted a masterful off-season, adding better players everywhere.
He beefed up a low-ranking defense by adding playmakers at every level from the D-line and edge, to the linebacking corps and defensive backfield. Playmaking was the overarching theme for his brilliant reconstruction of an awful defense into one that will help challenge for a playoff spot in 2025.
On offense, Vrabel had an even more challenging scenario. The 2024 Patriots' offense was the worst in the NFL. From botching the offseason except drafting Drake Maye to not giving Maye any first-team reps at all until the fourth game of the season, it was an unmitigated disaster. Enter Mike Vrabel in January, and everything changed.
Mike Vrabel reconstructed his offense and his offensive coaching staff
Mike Vrabel's theme in selecting his coaching staff was familiarity. His Defensive Coordinator, Terrell Williams, was with him for years in Tennessee. On offense, he chose Josh McDaniels, a bona fide winner, who ran the Patriots' Super-Bowl-winning offenses when Vrabel played in New England.
McDaniels' influence on the offense was clearly visible in its first appearance against Washington in the team's first preseason game. Tight ends were deployed all over the field in numbers. Screen passes were also well-utilized. Missing from the old days were some Patriots Hall of Famers, but the offense looked familiar.
McDaniels has a far better cast to rely upon than his 2024 predecessor had. Vrabel paid great attention to his offensive line this offseason and rebuilt it almost from top to bottom. In the first preseason game, only one starter from 2024's offensive line remained, Mike Onwenu. The rest were one veteran free agent and three rookies. It was a massive upgrade from the porous 2024 unit.
Second-year quarterback Drake Maye played the first quarter and, absent an ill-advised attempted pass that resulted in a fumble, had a solid performance. One aspect that stood out was his unique ability to run the ball when circumstances allow. His runs were impromptu, but the opportunity to script them is there if McDaniels chooses to program them.
Josh McDaniels must fully utilize Drake Maye's running ability
Drake Maye is poised for a massive 2025 season. His running ability can be part of that success. It's anything but run-of-the-mill. He's an accomplished runner. Not only can he run on broken plays, but he is also more than capable of executing programmed runs on occasion. Those occasions should be few. Maye is too valuable to be risked very often. But they're also extremely helpful to the offense.
The key to utilizing a running quarterback that hopefully McDaniels is well-aware of is the threat of the run. That's why a programmed run or two per game is valuable. They provide an additional challenge for opposing defensive coordinators who have to plan for that potentiality, even though the likelihood of seeing it is slim.
That eventuality is perfect for setting up RPO situations where the quarterback's ability to tuck the ball under his arm, or either hand off or throw, will create massive opportunities for the Patriots' offense. McDaniels has been traditionally a drop-back quarterback's coach. Yet, he has had some experience with running quarterbacks with Cam Newton and Tim Tebow.
How effectively he chooses to utilize this threat could greatly impact the Patriots' season. If he jumps in full with both feet on play action and RPO plays with the dual-threat Maye at the helm, great things will happen for the Patriots' offense. If he eschews those opportunities, he'll be adversely impacting his offense and the team.
The leadership on this has to come from the top. Mike Vrabel has to instruct McDaniels to heavily use deception in his offense. Play-action, reverses, RPO, and gadget plays, accompanied by the home run threats the Patriots now possess, could be monstrous contributors to a 2025 playoff run. Conversely, a vanilla offense that keeps Maye's running ability on the shelf will be counterproductive.