If there's anybody who knows what it's like to go from worst to first with the Patriots, it's the team's head coach. Mike Vrabel's first year in Foxborough as a player in 2001 was a remarkable story that Julian Edelman could write a Pulitzer novel about, as the Patriots went from a last-place 2000 season to Super Bowl champions.
Fast forward to 2025, and the Patriots are coming off back-to-back 4-13 seasons and a last-place finish in the AFC East in 2024. At the center of the task of revitalizing a broken-down franchise? A man named Mike Vrabel.
When examining the eight teams that finished in their division's basement in 2024, CBS Sports' Kevin Patra gave the Patriots the second-best chance, behind only the 49ers, of moving from the cellar to the top in 2025.
Buffalo is the king of the AFC East until proven otherwise, having won the division every year since Tom Brady left New England for Tampa Bay. However, the Bills have their vulnerabilities, and Vrabel's reclamation project in New England could yield results sooner than one might think.
3 reasons why the Patriots will go from worst to first in the AFC East
1. Drake Maye's turbocharged development
It all starts with the Patriots' talented second-year quarterback, who has been drawing comparisons to the Bills' Josh Allen, a fitting poetic parallel. Eliot Wolf and Robert Kraft gave Maye a bunch of shiny new toys this offseason, and now it's Maye's job to take advantage of them while continuing to blossom into the superstar the Patriots hope he'll be.
If Maye takes care of his business, Vrabel's job becomes a hundred times easier. As a rookie, Maye did the best he could with a terrible core of receivers and a matador offensive line in front of him. Now that both of those issues have been addressed, Maye is due for a breakout.
2. The defense will do its job
Wolf's focus in free agency was to rebuild New England's defense. Sound familiar? It's the same route that Kraft went in rebuilding the roster in 2001 - Vrabel included - and we all know what happened. Milton Williams, Carlton Davis, Harold Landry, and Robert Spillane were awarded lucrative contracts to join the Patriots, and much like the 2001 team, New England has a defense that will keep it in most games.
It doesn't hurt that the head coach is a defensive-minded, old-school, no-nonsense kind of guy who can also relate to his players. While it's difficult to completely shut a team down in this modern NFL, built on throwing the football first, the Patriots' defense will give the team a chance to win many games.
3. A favorable schedule
The schedule gods couldn't have been any kinder to the Patriots in September and October. They're set up to get themselves ahead of the eight-ball early in the season, which includes a Sunday night matchup at Buffalo.
This will be a key factor in the Patriots potentially generating enough wins to overtake the Bills. If New England can steal that October matchup in Orchard Park, that will certainly put the Bills on notice that the Patriots are for real. A 6-2 record heading into November is a strong possibility.
If all three of these factors come together and the new playmakers, especially Stefon Diggs, can live up to expectations, perhaps it'll be the Patriots wearing the hats and T-shirts come January.