New England Patriots
“If anything, it should motivate you, man, to kind of raise your level.”
FOXBOROUGH — Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel raised a few eyebrows with his comments on Saturday about the state of New England’s roster with just a few weeks to go until the start of the regular season.
“I do not think we have a very deep team, so I think we have to make sure that we are preparing our football team and that we are doing everything that we can to keep our best players available,” Vrabel said after New England’s preseason win over the Eagles. “And if that means playing Thursday as part of preparation, then that is what we will do. I have not made that decision yet, but I would say that that is something that I am confident in with where we are set up currently.”
Beyond that blunt commentary on the state of a roster that fell just a game short of a Super Bowl win last year, Vrabel’s musings were also perceived by some as a shot at the team’s drafting personnel and other executives after years of failed picks that further drained the club’s depth at critical positions.
That implication prompted Vrabel to follow up on Monday during a spot on WEEI’s “Greg Hill Show,” noting that he spoke to executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf about it.
“I can walk back, and I’ve already talked to Eliot this morning, and these aren’t issues. I’m not in a subtle context — that wasn’t that,” Vrabel noted. “They asked why we didn’t play the guys, and we have to have everybody we have available and then continue to develop and see some guys that went out and played like they did on Saturday night to continue to build that depth.”
The Patriots’ head coach might have cleared the air with one of the team’s top executives. But, what about smoothing things over with a locker room that, according to Vrabel, is leaving a lot to be desired beyond New England’s starting units?
Speaking on Monday after practice, Patriots veteran tight end Hunter Henry said that Vrabel has not addressed the comments, but offered up a vote of confidence for a Patriots roster that has had two uneven performances during preseason action up to this point.
“No, not with the team,” Henry said of Vrabel speaking with the roster. “But I mean, I can speak personally. We’ve got a lot of good football players in here, I believe. I go against a lot of different guys on a day-to-day basis, and we’ve got a lot of really good football players.
“It’s a joy to compete against our defense on a day-to-day basis. They’ve made us a lot better, and just honestly, a lot of the young guys, I’ve seen a lot of growth from them from day one to where we’re at now, and so it’s cool to kind of see that growth, but also see all the kinds of different guys we have on defense. So it definitely makes us better.”
While Henry propped up a locker room featuring several newcomers and younger players, he also defended Vrabel’s stern commentary to the media.
Similar to how Patriots rookie Gabe Jacas acknowledged last week that he appreciated the oftentimes harsh and demanding coaching he’s received from Vrabel, Henry said that every player in New England’s locker room should react to Vrabel’s last comments and respond with better play out on the practice fields and during Thursday’s preseason finale against the Browns.
“If anything, it should motivate you, man, to kind of raise your level,” Henry explained. “I mean, that was the thing at this level, man. It’s a production-based business, and you got to continue to earn that respect and earn that thing on a year-to-year basis, on a day-to-day basis, on a week-to-week basis.
“So you have to bring it every single day. And I think Vrabes is trying to call everybody [out]. I mean, I take that personally. I mean, we should all take it personally, that we’re all trying to be our best.”
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