Mike Vrabel’s impact on Patriots players just became impossible to ignore

The New England Patriots, like every other NFL team, are comprised of a roster of players who, when molded together, comprise a team. No one can deny that the performances of the individual players assembled by Mike Vrabel (finally hired by Robert Kraft in 2025) have coalesced into a terrific team.

A stat offered by ESPN's super Patriots reporter, Mike Reiss, is telling. In 2025, the New England Patriots have had eight NFL Players of the Week (POTW)/Month (one, Marcus Jones, twice).

These statistics are indicative of one thing: the team assembled in the offseason by Mike Vrabel has top personnel, and it's been duly recognized by the NFL. While only three of the seven players were acquired by Vrabel, it's irrelevant. They've all performed superlatively under his tutelage, and the results are evident.

Vrabel's coaching put these players from the former regime in a position to succeed. That's all that matters. Under Vrabel's guidance, they have climbed from a bottom-of-the-NFL roster to a 14-3, AFC East champion threatening to do extraordinary things in the 2025 playoffs.

Patriots' eight Players of the Week/Month tell a story

NFL teams are composed of 53 or more players on a roster. The team is eve thing. Yet it's composed of individuals, each of whom has to perform their task, or the whole will falter. That means individual plays and players matter.

The 2025 New England Patriots' eight Players of the Week/Month indicate that individual excellence leads to collective success. And under Mike Vrabel's tutelage, both previous roster players and players acquired by Vrabel have earned these lofty NFL distinctions.

Mike Vrabel kept the best and added the rest to the Patriots' roster

Interestingly, four of the Players of the Week/Month cited by Reiss were members of the lackluster 2024, 4-13 team. Vrabel was able to distinguish between the players who were NFL-capable in 2024 and those who weren't. He kept the best and signed and drafted the rest.

The turnover from 2024 amounted to roughly 50 percent. The fact that four of those players were returnees indicates Vrabel's superb NFL player evaluation skills.

In addition, three newcomers earned the awards. They were edge K'Lavon Chaisson, signed as a free agent, the POTW for Week 7 on defense; kicker Andy Boregales, a fifth-round draft choice by Vrabel, who won the Special Teams' POTW for Week 12; and the third was the most impactful of all, running back TreVeyon Henderson.

Henderson won the Offensive Player of the Month award for November. In 2025, the explosive rookie ran for a terrific 911 yards, a 5.1 yard average, and nine touchdowns, including four of more than 50 yards. He was also named to the First-Team All-Rookie team.

And he did this while being bottled up on the bench for much of the first nine games of the season, supposedly for "pass-blocking" reasons.

Teams are teams, and individuals are individuals. Every team is comprised of individual players who, if properly coached by a coach like Mike Vrabel (who should be named the NFL's Coach of the Year), can coalesce into a top team. If you have a Vrabel and talent (eight Players of the Week/Month is a good indicator), that team can work wonders. The 2025 New England Patriots did just that.