Through two preseason games, the New England Patriots haven’t played many of their starters. That’s for a good reason, too. Head coach Mike Vrabel doesn’t believe the team can risk injuries.
After their most recent preseason game, Vrabel admitted, “I do not think we have a very deep team.”
Those comments are obviously a concern for a team that has Super Bowl aspirations. Not having depth can sabotage that very quickly with an injury. On top of that, with just a couple of weeks before the season begins, it’s effectively not possible to address depth in an effective way.
New England Patriots HC Mike Vrabel on the Front Office
GettyNew England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel.
For some fans, those comments about roster depth from Mike Vrabel seemed like a shot at the Patriots front office. However, Vrabel pushed back against that on Monday when he made an appearance on The Greg Hill Show.
“We are the front office,” Vrabel said. “We are all making the decisions. We’re all included in this. It was about the young guys we have to develop. You can see that the players we kept out of the game, those are the guys. And we have to be able to find some guys behind them to be backups, to be the first guy in. To be the third outside linebacker. Be the third inside linebacker. Be the sixth offensive lineman. These things that are so critical. Be the third safety.”
Vrabel added that he’s spoken to Eliot Wolf, the Patriots Executive VP of Player Personnel, about this already to clarify what he meant. It wasn’t meant as a shot at the front office.
“So those are the things that we are trying to develop, and I guess that’s what I was referencing. I can walk back, and I’ve already talked to [Executive VP of Player Personnel] Eliot [Wolf] this morning, and these aren’t issues. I’m not in a subtle context – that wasn’t that. They asked why we didn’t play the guys, and [the answer is] 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,” Vrabel said.
Mike Vrabel on the Patriots’ Lack of Depth
GettyNew England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel
This does, of course, beg a question of Vrabel. Why don’t the Patriots have good enough depth to play everyone in a preseason game? Is it how the roster was constructed or how players have been developed?
“Well, I think that when you look at how you want to be constructed, we have to continue to draft very well,” Vrabel said. “We have to continue to develop those late-round picks, the guys that we can find that can be interior offensive linemen, that can be special teams linebackers, which is what we’re hoping when you look at Nam[di Obiazor] and Khalil [Jacobs]. Drafted some edge guys that you can develop and that maybe haven’t played necessarily this 3-4 defense in the past but that you’re developing.”
Vrabel and Wolf have now combined for two draft classes together. That should, from Vrabel’s perspective, continue to be the focus moving forward. In the short-term, however, it comes down to coaching the players already in the building.
“That’s just kind of where we were constructed and I think we can always work to improve that,” Vrabel said. “You just know that through the course of the season you’re going to need so many of those guys just because things are going to happen and we have to be ready to play games without those front-line guys. That’s on us to be able to get these guys ready to go.”
The Patriots have one more preseason game on Thursday, August 27th. That will be on the road against the Cleveland Browns, and it will be interesting to see if the starters see the field this time around.
Patriots Mike Vrabel on Potential Shot at Front Office, Controversial Comments