2024 marked the beginning of a new era for the New England Patriots. It was supposed to be both the post-Bill Belichick era and the start of the Jerod Mayo era. Unfortunately, after just one season, only one of those things remains true. Mayo was fired after the season posthaste. In his place steps Mike Vrabel, a franchise legend who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots as a player before being enshrined in the team’s Hall of Fame. Vrabel brings a far greater wealth of experience than Mayo did.
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And he’s already hopped to work reshaping the Patriots’ coaching staff. He hired Josh McDaniels, who was the Pats OC when Vrabel played there in the late 2000s, to do that job for New England once again. He also brought in Terrell Williams to run the defense after working with him in Tennessee.
And that experience with the Titans was a big draw for Vrabel, not only with ownership but with rookie QB Drake Maye. That, and the innate toughness Vrabel brings.
“Coach Vrabel, he’s been a head coach somewhere else. I think that can spice it up for us, kinda getting outside the Patriots tree… Being somewhere else, and knowing what it’s like to have success and being in the playoffs for a different city, different organization,” said the QB on Green Light with Chris Long.
“He called me on the phone, and he’s been great, so looking forward to getting to know him. I think he will bring some toughness, and he’ll coach you hard, and we need to be coached. Even great players that we have, veteran guys, we wanna be coached hard,” Maye added.
It’s hard to hear that quote from the signal-caller and not think his attitude toward being “coached hard” played a role in Mayo’s messy stewardship last year. Not to mention how excited Maye is now to have McDaniels—who coached Brady at several points in his career—mentoring him to help take that next step.
“Especially me, trying to make a jump in my 2nd year, you know, you wanna be coached hard. And Coach McDaniels, offensively, bringing that for us. He coached, I think, the best to ever do it. And get a chance to say, ‘Hey, this is what Tom was thinking on this play and this concept.’ Could be pretty sweet to sit in there and say ‘Hey, Tom was wrong a few times too,’ it would be pretty cool to see that.”
Last season, Maye showed a lot of potential and positive flashes. His numbers aren’t anything to gawk at—66.6 completion percentage, 88.1 passer rating, 175.1 pass yards a game, 15-10 TD-INT ratio—but they were also far from disastrous, which was very encouraging considering the wonky weapons and turnstile offensive line he was dealing with. He also got a nod as a replacement Pro Bowler.
Drake Maye needs to get the interceptions under control. But he’s clearly got the right mentality and the physical tools to be a premier QB in the NFL. The toughness of Vrabel and the offensive ingenuity of McDaniels should help him make that leap he’s hoping for in his sophomore season.
