PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL

PRESS CONFERENCE

May 28, 2025

Q: A video of Stefon Diggs has gotten a lot of traction in the last 24 hours or so. He's on a boat having a good time. The question comes in as to a certain substance that people are guessing what it is and isn't. Is this something that the team has to look into?

MV: Well, it's something that we're aware of. Obviously, we want to make great decisions on and off the field. We're hoping that with our time here on the field today, that when we don't have a script and we're on the call periods, that we're making great decisions. The message will be the same for all our players, that we're trying to make great decisions. Any conversations that I've had with Stefon will remain between him, I and the club.

Q: Have you talked to him since the video?

MV: I talk to our players every single day, the ones that are here and the ones that aren't.

Q: Are you expecting him to practice today, Mike?

MV: Not if he's not here.

Q: So, he's not here?

MV: You guys will find out in a minute. But no.

Q: He was here last week, according to a video...

MV: Everything that we're going to do, Karen [Guregian], is we're going to coach the guys that show up at 8:00 a.m., the ones that say, 'Hey, I've got a situation, we'll be here at 8:05 a.m.,' we'll coach those as well. This is a voluntary part of our off-season program. Every player that's not here, which there aren't many, have been in communication with me and their position coaches.

Q: Based on what you've seen from the times he's been around, how would you say he's progressing?

MV: Again, the timelines and the prognosis and everything, we're working hard to get him back and to be ready to go. When he's here, we'll coach him and we'll have him ready to go.

Q: Mike, any updates on Terrell [Williams]?

MV: No, just that he continues to, like our players, work hard to get back. I'm excited to have him back. Again, the communication that I see every day with him and the players in their meetings, and I know that he's excited. Hopefully we'll get him back here sooner rather than later.

Q: Mike, last time we were out here for practice, Drake [Maye] had a few interceptions. Do you care? How do you view moments like that?

MV: Well, I care. I care about every player's performance and that we continue to improve. There has been great improvement. Everybody's going to have a bad day. There's a lot of reasons that go into it. We're not going to analyze every single practice and have explanations for things that came up. The command, the operation, all those things have continued to improve. I don't know who asked me about what I thought would be a successful day. Sure enough, I told you those things weren't going to happen. Hopefully the operation, the communication today, and the execution has got to be better. We only have so many of these opportunities. I'm hopeful that in front of us, the media, that we have a better day.

Q: Mike, do you feel like the defense is further along in their install and process in the offense? If so, how big is the gap?

MV: Well, I don't think that they're further along. This is hard. This is a hard time in the spring when every pass play is third-and-10. They're pass rushing, they're pressuring and they're blitzing. Which is great. We have to be able to block and see everything. It is a passing camp. It didn't take Keion [White], K.C. [K'Lavon Chaisson], Christian [Barmore], Milt [Milton Williams] and Harold [Landry III] long to figure that out. It is what it is, which is good. Again, they know how to practice. We have to be able to speed, pass rush, stay away from the quarterback, get out of the way, stay off the ground. All those things that they've been able to do over the course of the first four OTAs.

Q: You talked last week about Rhamondre [Stevenson] and how he was absent. We saw a photo posted by the team that he was back at practice. What was it like to get him back in the mix of things?

MV: Well, it's great to have everybody here. I want to support him through this process the best that we can. That's probably a little bit more difficult. He doesn't know us as well. His communication, I appreciated. It's great to have him back. We'll work him along and make sure that he's ready to get out there. I don't know how much you'll see him in some of the live team action. I don't think that's fair to him to just throw him back out there. There's certainly a return-to-play like a lot of players will have over the course of the year.

Q: There are a lot of new faces on the team this year, players, coaches. How much of a focus does this spring is team-building, getting guys to learn each other because there are so many new faces?

MV: I think that's important. I think the execution is also important. The ability to work with another player out on the field, a guy next to you. Linemen are going to move around, have to pop in a different position. Quarterbacks are going to have to throw to different players. I certainly think that part of this process of playing this game is about building relationships and connections with players and coaches alike.

Q: Mike, will you have a leading voice in Drake's development this year?

MV: I have a voice in every player's development on our football team.

Q: I meant generally, would it be you, would it be Josh [McDaniels]? Do you guys have sort of one voice that's going to take the lead, or is it going to be more collaborative?

MV: I think when I have something to say to Drake, I'll say it, and I think when Josh wants to put plays in that can help him or explain what the read is, it's going to be things that I'm not going to be as knowledgeable at when it relates to quarterbacks. But I think that there will be some other things where I can help him. We don't have it scripted out; that's kind of our job is to figure out what to say and when to say it.

Q: Mike, you have a lot of numbers in the wide receiver room. Over the course of time, how do you separate?

MV: We have the same number of everybody else in the National Football League. We addressed that last week I thought.

Q: When you watch these guys, what are you looking for that separates them from what you want out of your players?

MV: Can they know what to do, can they line up, can they catch the ball, can they help the quarterback? That they play, they finish and they transition, how fast they play when they don't have the football in their hands. So, some of that stuff we can see in the spring, and a lot of that stuff will materialize once we get to training camp.

Q: Mike, going into last year, Jabrill Peppers and Kyle Dugger were generally recognized as one of the better safety tandems in the league. [Marte] Mapu's back there, you added [Marcus] Epps, we're going to talk to Peppers later on today. Do you feel good about that safety rotation? Are you sorting out how they're going to be, what they're going to do?

MV: I don't think anybody's really sorted out anything as far as roles on this football team yet. I like the people. I like the players. You haven't seen Dugger on the field just because he's working through something, which is not uncommon in the spring. I love Jabrill's energy. I like his passion for the game. I like his energy when he comes in the building. Those things are all very positive, and then the new players and the new additions are trying to carve out a role as well.

Q: What's been your impression of Cole Strange so far? I saw last week, sort of rotating at both guard spots as opposed to center. Just how has he done?

MV: It's hard to really identify the linemen. It's a lot of pass protection, it's a quick whistle, and there's no pads on. So again, Cole's working extremely hard. The versatility that he'll be able to display is something that will be critical.

Q: You mentioned some of the things you want to see out of wide receivers to Dan [Roche]. What have you seen from Kayshon Boutte so far in that regard?

MV: The same as everybody else. Working hard. I think that he's gotten in better shape as we started to go on to the OTAs, and I think that's really started to help him as we stack plays together. In the game, you don't just take a play on and just come off and then go back and forth. Hopefully, you can string together four or five plays as we work down the football field. So, I think that he's working to do that. I like his attitude. I enjoy his willingness to continue to improve and maybe do some things a little differently.

Q: How have you liked the pace of practice? We've only been out here for one of them, but it looked like it was relatively intense, a couple guys on the field at different points –

MV: That means a lot coming from you, Phil [Perry]. Thank you.

Q: Pretty good gauge, I'm a pretty intense guy myself. But how do you strike the balance between you want guys to be competitive, but you also don't want guys –

MV: Yeah, I think that's the biggest coach speak in the spring is you're talking out of both sides of your mouth. It's like, compete, but stay up. Compete, but the receiver has the right to the football. We can't go through the back of them. I think that the energy is there. I think the urgency is there. I like to see guys running off the field, coming out on the field, to take the field, to be ready to go, breaking the huddle, lining up, having an urgency to which we practice, and I think all those things, hopefully, will lead to better execution.

Q: Mike, there have been a lot of questions and observations about your involvement in practice. Watching the other day, it was interesting to see that you're coaching one-on-one with players from different backgrounds, different paths here, different positions. How important is it for you – I know this might sound obvious – to coach all 90 guys on your roster here and then into the summer?

MV: I think it's important. I think, one, I enjoy it. I like it. I love it. I try to be as knowledgeable at every position as I possibly can. Some more than others – we referenced the quarterback. But having something at each position group that can maybe translate from my perspective to help the player. But then I also think that where the head coach is, is probably what the players think are important. So, I try to be a little bit everywhere.

Q: Coach, as you implement a new defensive scheme that's still with a lot of veterans, how do you feel the communication has been with these units early on?

MV: Good. Good. I think that when we split the squads up, I hear both fields talking and communicating. There's going to be times – hopefully, a lot of times at our home games – where the defense is going to have to signal, hand signal, eye contact, nonverbal communication because it's loud, we've created a great environment by the way that we're playing, and our fans are embracing that. So, I think that that's always important, and obviously, offensively, when we go on the road, we're going to have to have different silent counts and be on the same page in a loud environment.

Q: Mike, where did the hands-on come from within you? Was it just a transition from your playing days? You seem to be a lot more hands-on than most coaches, in a good way, with working with every single player.

MV: When I got to Ohio State, they didn't leave the manual underneath the desk. So, I just kind of went with whatever I felt like was best for me and fit my style, and it's kind of stuck.