The New England Patriots roster has gone from Super Bowl winner to dumpster divers in six years. The Pats won their last Super Bowl after the 2018 season. Everyone knows who was at the helm of the offense and the squad then, TB 12.
Since then, the team’s roster has been in a downward spiral and resembles more of a practice squad or waiver-wire list than anything else. It’s testimony to poor drafting, lousy free agent signings, and overall personnel mismanagement.
The argument is that now that the team has an experienced Head Coach, personnel management is the next huge issue to tackle. Vrabel has to build an almost entirely new team and prioritize players like him as a football player.
Mike Vrabel’s qualities need to be the Patriots players' qualities
The Patriots' current roster needs an immediate and almost complete overhaul. The personnel group currently in place (unless some agreement with Vrabel has already changed that) has not shown itself capable of building an NFL roster. No one needs to leave, but several additions are necessary, and most importantly, Vrabel needs to run the show.
Vrabel's player attributes are exactly what needs to be infused into this listless Patriots roster. He was a tough, no-compromising player. As owner Robert Kraft said in his press introduction, Vrabel never started a game in four years as a Pittsburgh Steeler. Then he came to New England and earned his way to be an immediate and ongoing starter and star, demonstrating his uber-determination.
Current Patriots who don't possess that quality and his work ethic will go. A massive makeover is required, and players who don't possess a Mike Vrabel-like tenacity should be wished the best and shown the door. If 30 or more go, so be it.
Doing anything for the Patriots' winning was a vital Vrabel attribute
Mike Vrabel was willing to do anything and play anywhere to help the Patriots win games and championships. That spirit needs to be and will be transferred to his Patriots team or unwilling players will be broomed. The whiny version of the 2021-2024 Patriots has to go.
A keen example of Vrabel's willingness if not passion to do whatever it took, was his role as a touchdown-making tight end at times. Vrabel was targetted 14 times during his career as a tight end-type receiver. He had 10 touchdowns in those 14 targets. That has to be close to a record target-TD ratio for anyone with 10 targets or more in NFL history.
For New England, he had 11 targets and eight TDs. With Tom Brady throwing the rock, Vrabel was a touchdown machine. The 2025 Pats will likely be comprised of players like that or they'll be plying their trade elsewhere.
And turning to the roster, whether the current personnel group stays or not, is for the ownership to decide and is really irrelevant. No one has to lose a job. Yet, the key decision that must be made is that Vrabel and his self-selected group have to make the final decisions.
The current personnel hierarchy made a disaster out of the 2024 offseason and shouldn't be given the keys to 2025's. Vrabel and his guys have to sign and draft players who meet his stringent attitudinal qualities as well as being top players.
On that note, great teams are always spearheaded by great players. The Patriots, at present, may have three or four, but it's not enough. Quality and top additions need to be prioritized over just a bunch of decent-to-good ones. This takes focus and proper resource allocation.
The catchwords should be, "sign and draft the best, and scout the rest." Vrabel knows that great players do great things. The focus has to be aggregating as many as possible by acquiring the best players through free agency and the draft.
Numbers are numbers but quality always trumps. That's why Mike Vrabel has to be given the personnel portfolio. That has to be the next shoe to drop in the 2025 transformation of the current shoddy Patriot roster from doormats to ultimately champions once more.