PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
February 25, 2026
MV: Long time no see. What do you got, Karen [Guregian]?
On what went into promoting Zak Kuhr to defensive coordinator:
MV: Well, I mean, I think there's a lot of things in play there. I think we're just trying to figure out what's best defensively for us, what's best for the staff organizationally and being able to get everybody's strengths where they need to be. I know that Terrell [Williams] will be able to help me on a lot of things, help the football team, help the defense, continue to have a big role in that, and then just seeing where things progressed with Zak and the comfort level that we had there. So, that's where we ended up, and I think we have a great staff. There'll be some people that we'll add going through this process. I'm happy for guys like Robert Kugler, who was able to go and be a tight ends coach in Pittsburgh and some of those things.
On if Terrell Williams has a title:
MV: He will when I get back to Foxborough. I don't want to sit here and misspeak and figure out where that ends up. I've got a plan for him, and I think that a vision is better than the title, necessarily. So, I don't want to say something and not have that be an accurate depiction of what ends up happening once we work through a lot of different things.
On how he views Stefon Diggs' future with the team:
MV: Well, I mean, not only his future, but what he was able to do for us and come in and provide leadership. He worked extremely hard in the time that he was rehabbing from the knee. I think he was just a really good presence each and every week. So, as we look to evaluate the football team, we're doing that constantly, Eliot [Wolf], myself, Ryan [Cowden], Stretch [John Streicher] and Eliot's staff. Just being a little bit behind of where we were with just how long the season went, where those conversations for each and every player are happening in the meetings in between the ones we have the draft players here. So, there's a lot of things that we'll do between now and the time that the football season starts. So, that's going to be the same with, I would say, most every player on our roster.
On how Diggs' court hearing factors into his future with the team:
MV: I think that there are probably some things that go into – making decisions, again, we want our players to make great decisions. Again, we've tried to support those players that have some things that have come up, whether those are accusations – we're going to let the legal process run its course, just like we've said before. Those players, whether that's Stefon or anybody else that has something, have done exactly what they're supposed to do, been where they're supposed to be, communicated with the court when they're supposed to communicate with them. So, we're going to let all that take care of itself, and then we'll have to see what the judgments are in those particular cases.
On what stands out for him in this year's draft class:
MV: Just looking across the board, I think there's volume at the tight end class. Whether they're premium players or what people would say are first-round picks, I just know that when you go and you evaluate other teams and you get ready to play for them, there's a bunch of fourth and fifth round tight ends that end up starting, playing and contributing. So, wherever that value is, I just think that there are some names there. I, myself, personally, have to do a better job of evaluating that position that I can then give input to the rest of the personnel staff and kind of the vision that we have for that position. We've met with a bunch of edge players. There's depth there. So, we'll continue to work our way across the board and enjoy these meetings, and I'll have to go back and continue to watch.
On how much the rookie class' significant playing time helped them in 2025 and if that sets them up for the next few years:
MV: I think every year is different, so we'll have to have a really good rookie class next year. We hope that the players we drafted, the ones that played a lot, the ones that played 50 or 60% of the playtime or the ones that maybe didn't play as much, that they all need to develop. They need to continue to grow and develop not only physically, but in our program mentally and emotionally and become more of that foundation that we talked about. So, playing and winning 17 games as a rookie is only good if you can continue to improve and use those experiences to your benefit that would then help the team.
On if he talked to Arthur Smith during his hiring process and what he thinks about him going into the collegiate game at Ohio State:
MV: Well, Arthur's a friend, so I talk to him often. I've got a lot of respect for him as coach, but not only that, as a person and as a friend. So, for all the Ohio State fans, I guess we have somebody to complain to if they don't score 50 points a game like every other Buckeye fan does. So, I'm excited for him to be in Columbus. Obviously, that place means a lot to me personally and to my family. So, having gone there and lived there, I support them.
On certain replay referee decisions happening in the 1:00 p.m. window:
MV: Well, we should never have a reason for volume and stat. We need to evaluate staffing at that level, and to find out and make sure that every game is treated the same, whether it's the primetime game on Sunday night, it's the primetime game on Monday or Thursday, or those 1 o'clock games that are the lifeblood of our league. So, I think that if we need to figure out staffing issues that need to be taken care of so that those things are looked at and we're not letting anything slip – we need to be really good in replay. There's going to be mistakes on the field, just like there's mistakes in execution by the players, mistakes by the coaches. There are going to be mistakes by the officials. There are, and they need to be decisive. They need to believe in what they're calling, but saying that, there's going to be mistakes. We have to get to a system in replay that is close to 100% accurate as possible.
On what makes John Harbaugh a good coach:
MV: Well, again, I've never played for him. I've never coached with him. I would say just his record speaks for itself. I have a lot of respect for what he's done. I don't have his secret sauce. I wish I did and to be able to do it at one place for 18 years. But I know that his teams are physical, they're sound, they play great defense, they force you into mistakes, but other than that, I'm only looking at it from being against him.
On any advice he has for a first-time head coach:
MV: Just know that you're going to make some mistakes. Hopefully, don't make too many of them. You don't want to make the same mistakes twice. It's important to be around the building. It's important to make sure everybody in the organization knows that their job is critical to our success.
On his relationship with A.J. Brown:
MV: It's meant – I think the relationship with players, and specifically, you asked about A.J. It has meant a lot. I've watched him grow. I've watched him mature. I'm proud of him, proud of the father that he is. I'm proud of the husband. That has nothing to do with where he plays or where he played. Those are the things that are important. We reach out and text each other during the good things that happen to each other. Sometimes things don't go so well for the people that you're close with, and you text for those as well. It's a two-way street of support and reminders of what got us to where we are here today.
On the interview process at the Combine:
MV: Get as much as you guys can get, I guess. It's about the same time. It depends what kind of questions you ask. You get 18 minutes. Some teams go over, and then they come rushing in and then the next team is late. That's the process. It's how long you can keep them past 18 minutes for the person that's taking them to the other room, standing outside the room, banging on it. Some guys have a lot to talk about. Some guys have not as much. I think everybody has a story. Everybody has a journey. Some players have a little bit more in their journey that you have to unpack. There's obviously follow-up, and this is a good first setting with 45 players.
On how he would describe the Patriots' approach in free agency:
MV: I don't want to tell you what it is because we're still working through it. We want to have a plan, and we want to bring in really talented players that we have a vision for, that we also believe in the type of character that they have as we build this team and improve on what we did this year. We know how difficult that will be. So right now, the plan is to evaluate everybody that we can, have communication and conversations, when those times come, with the agents as we approach the tampering window. Right now, it's about gaining information from our scouting department and having our coaches look at it and then figuring out a few players at each position that may help us.
On if he would prefer having more cap space entering free agency:
MV: I've never really tried to get focused [on that]. If I shop at Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom or something, I've gotten to the point now in my life where if I want something, I can usually buy it. I'm sure Richard Miller, Eliot and Matt Groh will work and do everything that they can to help us sign the players, with certain exceptions. I haven't even gotten that far. If you like something, you usually just try to buy it.
On the notion that they need to be aggressive while they have a quarterback on a rookie contract:
MV: I think there's always time to be aggressive, but not reckless. We certainly understand what premium quarterbacks cost in this league, where they get to and what they should be compensated. So, we'll do our best to build and continue to build a roster worthy of competing for a championship.
On the difficulty of dealing with a Super Bowl loss as a head coach:
MV: Again, I've tried to say that this is a terrible ending to a pretty fantastic season, one that I enjoyed probably as much as any other season that I've been a part of. Just from building it, enjoying coming to work, the relationships, bringing people together that were there in place, people that we brought in new, players that were there and staff that was there. Then also adding to that and knowing how delicate that can be. I enjoyed all that. I didn't enjoy losing, certainly not that game. There's work to do. We're already back at the Combine, and this thing is rolling. Players will come in on April 20th. Again, we'll have to have a program in place that's modified from one they just went through and whatever modifications that we make to that.
On if it's part of his job is to manage expectations after such a successful season:
MV: I think expectations should always be high. They were high when we started this thing just a little over a year ago. Look at the schedule, see where we go, see when we go to Seattle, see when we go to L.A. Everything's a different challenge, but that's a little far out. I think right now it's about, from a coaching standpoint, what we did well, how we can enhance it, the new ideas. We have to have fresh ideas to what we're doing in all three phases. That's been my direction to the staff is to go through and focus on what we can do to enhance the core concepts, but also, I need to see some new ideas that maybe force us to push ourselves in a different direction. Not a wholesale change, but things that we feel like can help us, but that are also new.
On why Ohio State fans should be excited for Arthur Smith:
MV: I think Arthur's got a physicality to him, a toughness to him that he wants to put onto the football field offensively. He's creative enough. He's worked with a number of different players that I think they enjoy some of the wrinkles that he has. I think he's got some core concepts that he enjoys. He's always been an aggressive play caller.
On what he needs to know going from the pro game to the college game at Ohio State:
MV: My first job was at Ohio State. I didn't know anything, so I'm certainly not going to give him any advice. I think what he does is going to be plenty, and that's to put the players first, make connections with them, do what the players do best.
On what he looks for in interviews with players at the Combine:
MV: It really changes each and every interview, for me. I kind of sit there and listen for a little bit and just try to go in any direction and try to chime in where I can. But I don't have like a set list of questions. I'm one of those reporters, Karen, that kind of goes with the flow and I feed off their answer. I don't have a list. You guys, you come up and you have a list of questions that you have to ask me. I ask questions based off the answers I get.
On if there's anything he looks for in interviews:
MV: Just trying to be authentic, open up about things that have happened, their growth, their maturity, things that they feel like they need to be successful from support people or coaching and where they feel like their development is. We don't spend a bunch of time on X's and O's in 18 minutes. We don't. We have an opportunity to do that down the line.
On how he has balanced his preparation for free agency and the Combine:
MV: Really, I haven't looked at much of the draft guys, personally, outside of what we looked at briefly in in Foxborough before we came. But try to look at the free agents, try to understand, while we're here, who these players are. A lot of these guys I meet and I'm really excited to look at their film just based on their energy, just how they presented themselves and the passion in which they spoke. I'm excited to go and watch them.
On what he looks for when evaluating edge rushers:
MV: Well, I think that there's got to be a violence. There's got to be ability to move off the football and to create some sort of disruption. You have to be able to factor in on the quarterback. You have to be able to make plays on the football. We know the quarterback is responsible for the most turnovers in football. So, can they affect the quarterback? And then the ability to set the edge, rush and have enough coverage acumen that the few times we ask them to do it, they can do it.
On the balance of work and life outside of work:
MV: It's probably gotten better. Again, I just want to make sure that our staff has time with their families in the offseason. I tell them all the time, if there's stuff that they need to do in the offseason, now's the time to do it. Don't miss something and blame me because that's not accurate. If they tell their wife or they tell their kid, 'Hey, I couldn't come because Coach Vrabel said no.' That's a lie. I want them to be able to do those things. We put a lot of work in. It was a long season, and we were excited to work as long as we did, but you have to be able to get away. You have to be able to spend time with people that care about you. They went on this journey with us, too, that lasted until February. They were wearing it, too. Their anxiety, their nerves, all the feelings that we had, they had as well.
On where the line is between violence and being over aggressive for edge rushers:
MV: Well, I don't think that that's – you're probably talking about two different things. I think your actions and the style of play have to always mirror what we're doing as a defense, but we don't want to take away their ability to make a play. If a tackle oversets, come inside. Know who the quarterback is. If a lineman maybe reaches you too much, and you can come under and you can create a play in the backfield, those are things we want them to do. We don't want to coach robots. That's not going to get it done, but we can't have guys that are just doing their own thing with a mobile quarterback and a certain coverage, and then now we give up an X play. Just making sure that everybody's on the same page is the most important thing.
On what he has done to cast a wider net when it comes to diversity in coaching:
MV: Well, the thing for me that's really critical is the diversity of ideas, of backgrounds, of race, allows us to make sure that every one of the 90 players that we have or 91 players that we'll take to camp doesn't fall through any crack. That if they need something, if they need some extra teaching, if they need something off the field, whoever it is, that one of those players doesn't fall through the cracks. That's really important to me. We want the best coaches and want the best people, but the diversity of ideas, backgrounds and race is critical because we're getting players from everywhere across the country, and even we'll add an international player as well.
On the next collective bargaining agreement:
MV: They talked about the idea and how we have to, as a league, prepare, and what we need to do, just like on our football team and everybody else's football team, that they're preparing for things that may come up. Some of those things don't end up happening, but we always have to have a plan and be prepared for anything that could come up, especially one that we're aware of, which is a negotiation.
On if there are certain non-negotiable traits he looks for in tight ends:
MV: Well, again, there's going to be different styles of tight end. Ones that are going to be maybe better pass catchers and harder, tougher matchups for defenses. There are going to be guys that are more suited at the line of scrimmage. There are going to be guys that are suited to more movement blocks. You see these – as I talk about it, being able to create some movement before the snap going laterally, that then could transition into getting into the line of scrimmage. So, you see these tight end blocks that are kind of changing and evolving, and we have to be conscious of who we have, how we need to run the football and ideas that we can give them.
On where he encourages his coaches to look for new ideas:
MV: At all levels of football, whether that's in the collegiate level, at all different levels. Around the league, very few coaches come up with their own ideas, I'll tell you that. So, everybody wants to be a guru, but you look around and a lot of these things look the same, and there are a lot of good ideas. Like I tell them, it's only crazy if it doesn't work.
