The New England Patriots have received short shrift from some observers who don't rate the team's accomplishments in the 2025 offseason highly. One has head-scratchingly suggested the Patriots rank 26th in their power rankings. So much for sober analysis.
Mike Vrabel was hired in January 2025 and dramatically reshaped the roster into a team that will carry his vision of a successful NFL team onto the field. Any resemblance between the 2025 Patriots and the dreadful 2024 version will be superficial.
Everything has changed under Vrabel, and the results will be immediately visible when the Patriots take the field at Gillette Stadium on September 7 against the Raiders. Only the best parts of the cellar-dwelling 2024 version of the team will still be around.
CBS Sports analyst Tyler Sullivan "gets it" about the 2025 Patriots
One top national analyst "gets it" in his analysis of the Patriots and what Vrabel has done to remake his roster. He also astutely recognizes that Vrabel's young quarterback, Drake Maye (without whose presence he'd probably be coaching elsewhere), will be a massive influence on the success he predicts for the 2025 Patriots.
Because of that, CBS Sports ' Tyler Sullivan has suggested the Patriots are a good bet to make the 2025 playoffs.
"That dramatically improves the depth chart around ascending second-year quarterback Drake Maye, who showed flashes as a rookie despite an overall lackluster season in Foxborough. Combine all that with the second-easiest schedule in the NFL, and New England could very well be a playoff team. Its home schedule alone could produce six or seven wins, which would then only require less than a handful of road victories to sniff 10 victories and be in the thick of the playoff conversation."
Sullivan hits the nail squarely on the head with as good and succinct analysis of why the 2025 Patriots are poised to emerge as an NFL force as you're going to find. It was a masterful evaluation, accomplished in just two well-written paragraphs.
The keys to the Patriots' 2025 success are clear
Any Patriot fan would be well-served to take Sullivan's astute analysis to heart. While he understates the importance of Vrabel as the prime architect of the roster makeover, he still hits all the major points of what he has accomplished.
He cites the overhaul of the team's whole operation this offseason. Nothing about the team's 2025 offseason conduct even remotely resembles the disastrous 2024 version. Absent drafting Drake Maye, the entire 2024 offseason was a dumpster dive. Vrabel turned that performance around 180 degrees.
As Sullivan points out, he added top NFL defensive players in Williams, Spillane, and Davis. He missed Harold Landry III, who instantly became the Patriots' best sack producer. Regardless, the improvements added playmakers at all three levels of the defense.
On offense, Sullivan noted key O-line additions Moses and Campbell, as well as the three top offensive playmakers added in Diggs, Williams, and Henderson. Similarly, Sullivan missed the addition of an underrated big-play receiver Mack Hollins, who may shock the NFL in 2025.
Whether one is a betting person or not, Sullivan's analysis should be music to the ears of the Patriot Nation. He suggests a possible 10-win 2025 season, and he's spot on target. And if things break right, it may be even better. This is not your 2024 Patriots. This is Mike Vrabel's and Drake Maye's team now, and the results will bear no resemblance to those of 2024. And you can bet on it.