PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL

PRESS CONFERENCE

May 9, 2025

MV: I appreciate you guys coming out here and covering us. I want to update you; one update on the coaching staff. Terrell Williams won't be out there today. Terrell's working through a medical condition. I've been in constant communication with him daily. Zak Kuhr has been handling those responsibilities in Terrell's absence, but Terrell's eager to get back, and we're excited to get him back. He's still been in contact with the players through Zoom, with myself and the rest of the coaching staff. Stacey's [James] going to make him available this afternoon to you guys, so that you guys can get some updates. He'll speak on his behalf and on his role right now with our defense. We're excited to get to work here with the groups of players that we have here, with the drafted players, the undrafted players that we've signed, and then there are some tryout players. There are also some players that are currently on our roster – four of them – that have been working really hard through five weeks. We're excited to see what they can do and provide some leadership this weekend. So with that, Karen [Guregian], what do you got?

Q: Aside from what you see on the field in the next coming days, what might you be looking for from these rookies in terms of inside the room, leadership and so on?

MV: Well, I think the leadership will come. I think that the more competent that they are in their job and their ability to help the player next to them would be a great place to start with leadership. The whole goal this weekend is to get them acclimated to the program that we've tried to build over five weeks with our players so that on Monday, they're ready to go as they enter into this end of phase two with our football team, and our football team can see that the players that we brought in are ones that are going to put the team first. All the things that we've asked them to do in five weeks, these rookies have to get a crash course. So, excited about that and getting them acclimated.

Q: Mike, as a player and now doing what you do, what catches your eye when it comes to a kid trying to live out an NFL dream?

MV: Well, there's talent there. There has to be something that we see when you're talking about some of the tryout players or the undrafted players. There has to be some sort of skill set. There's height, weight, speed and something that they're going to do. A lot of this is, can they take on all the information that we've given them from this morning and the walkthrough that we had with them, and being able to translate that onto the field and not have it be too big, or that they quickly correct mistakes and that they're coachable. Those are some things I think would stand out.

Q: Mike, you mentioned with Terrell, you're excited to get him back when you get him back. Is it something that he's going to be able to return to you guys soon, or is this maybe going to threaten his availability this season for you?

MV: Well, I'm not going to touch on anything other than as we go forward, Phil [Perry]. There won't be many timelines from me as it relates to time away from players or anybody else. So, you guys will want to know; I won't be able to provide any timeline for any issues that players miss time or people that are away from here. I think Terrell will be able to talk through a lot of that stuff. I think it's probably best that, like everything else, we let them speak for themselves.

Q: Mike, what made Zak, in your mind, the right guy to step in for Terrell?

MV: A lot of this stuff was planned out, I think, as far as just the installation and the things that we were going to do. So, from that sort of thing, we did all that as a staff. It just felt like Zak has great knowledge of what we've done here in the past with me, this system and with Terrell. All of our coaches over there – Book [Scott Booker] and J-Ham [Justin Hamilton] have been coordinating the secondary. Again, phase two of this offseason is about individual development. It's about skill development, working through individual drills and the things that we're going to do to develop them. Yeah, there's installation that goes on, but a lot of that is done in the position rooms. Then obviously, there's a defensive identity that we want to build, and all those coaches have taken a role and will continue to take a role in that identity.

Q: How much have you gotten to interact with A.J. Highsmith, and what went into the decision to bring him on board?

MV: There was an opening. We needed to make sure that we did our due diligence and filled that. He's young, but has some experience with some other organizations. I think ultimately, we just felt really comfortable after the interview process of bringing him on. His passion for football, he's got a great demeanor. This is me speaking; I enjoyed his demeanor, his personality. I think just his presence is something that's always important. He'll help on the professional side, on the pro scouting side, and coordinating, on a coaching perspective, the pre-advance and all those things that are important once the season starts and evaluating other teams' rosters as it relates to the offseason, who's available. We'll still add players in training camp, who may be available and then players that could potentially end up on waivers.

Q: Mike, what went into the decision to let go of Joe Cardona, and how much of that was your comfort level with Julian [Ashby]?

MV: We've been through this already in the offseason. I think anytime that you have to move on from players that have been at a place and that have been a part of successful football teams, it just comes down to our ability to acquire a player that we believe in strongly, and we just felt like that was the best decision to go with Julian. We're going to have two young kickers that we're going to be trying out, and after working Julian out, I think it became evident that that was probably what was in the best interest of the team. I have a lot of respect for Joe and what he's done here. We tried to do that in the most respectful way possible and give him an opportunity to go and catch on.

Q: Are there plans to cross-train Jared Wilson between guard and center?

MV: I would say that any of those interior three positions, probably should know all those. Again, whatever Jared can handle. He'll be working at center this week, and from what I've seen in just a short amount of time, I'm looking forward to seeing that this weekend. Once we get in here with the rest of the guys and we start to get to OTAs, his ability to play guard, we'll be able to evaluate. But we don't want to overload him, but obviously excited about seeing him operate at center and communicate, make the calls, quarterback-center exchange, all those things that are critical, especially in a rookie minicamp. So, bear with us today, please. These guys have never seen each other, snapped the ball to each other, other than a walkthrough. So, I'm praying for good quarterback-center exchanges.

Q: I know they haven't been in here long, but what are the early impressions of the rookie class from what you've seen from them so far?

MV: We'll find out. I think that the draft grades and all that, who really knows? That stuff is, like we always say, it's interesting, but I don't think that's very important. What's important is how they continue to build a role on this football team and how they get acclimated to what we're trying to do in the program. I think it's a great group that seems responsible, that all handle the communication about getting here and the hotel. There haven't been any issues – and not that we expect any – I'm just saying that these guys are off to a good start just as far as the professionalism that we expect. We'll coach them up from what we see on the field.

Q: Mike, because this is the time of year for this type of movement, and I'm not sure when we'll see you again next, do you expect any more changes to the front office aside from A.J.'s [Highsmith] addition?

MV: We're going to continue to try to add players that are going to help us. We're going to try to continue to add coaches that can help us potentially, and I would say that we're going to probably try to do the same in the personnel department. So, anybody that can help us and we feel like can help us ultimately win, we're going to try to do that at every level throughout the program.

Q: What do you remember about your first rookie minicamp, and how does that help you maybe connect with guys at this stage in the process?

MV: I think it was in Three Rivers Stadium. It was in the outfield of Three Rivers Stadium, and they laid down two plastic stripes in the outfield, and that's about what we had. I remember that. I think I was [No.] 96 at the time. I think I probably wore four numbers in Pittsburgh, so when guys make a big deal about numbers, I'm like, 'I think I had four of them in the first four years of my career.' I don't remember a whole bunch, I don't, other than being in the outfield of Three Rivers Stadium and having to be off the field at a certain time because there was batting practice that was starting.

Q: With the coaching situation, how much has it tilted at all for you as the head coach with the ability to go wherever you want to go? Are you tilting more defense?

MV: No, I don't think anything's changed for me as far as my involvement in all three phases. I help with the special teams; I enjoy those meetings because I know how critical it is for some players. Some tight ends, for example, Jaheim [Bell] and Jack Westover, that really haven't had a whole lot of experience in that. Those are the players that are eager and excited to learn that. We're going to try to help them, so that they can help themselves and help the team. I love being in the offensive line, love being with the defense. Sitting in with the receivers, I learn a lot, and I feel like there's things that I can help as well.

Q: It seems like you're stressing the younger players this offseason, just based off of a lot of moves you made. What is the significance of having so many younger players on the roster, and how does that help move this team along?

MV: I couldn't tell you what the age of any one of our players is. I know that that's probably your perspective. That's not anything that I really have evaluated. I think if you look at the free agency, I think that there's a lot of different players that have different levels of experience. When you look to fill a roster, you're going to have to fill it somehow. We drafted 11 players. We signed however many in the post-draft, and that's kind of where we're at. Anybody that can help us, age has never been anything that really concerned us. It's about production and their value to the football team.

Q: Mike, you just mentioned special teams, talked about that phase. In establishing a culture and setting a tone for your football team, as important as the other two phases are, how important is special teams, kicking game?

MV: I think it's critical. I think the amount of field position that changes hands, the kickoff and how critical that return phase is going to be, the ability to get the ball and understand after the adjustments that were made in the rules, how we limit penalties. You talk about the impact that penalties make on the return phase and how critical those are, the lost yardages. You can create momentum. You can maintain momentum. Being able to flip the field when we have to punt. We've worked on punts so much, I told them the other day, 'I hope we don't have to punt that much, but if we do, I think we're ready for it,' just from how much we've worked at it and how much they've improved in the first installation with the veteran players. Special teams is how I made it in the first four years of my career, so it's certainly something that I can appreciate and explain to the players how critical that is. For most of these rookies, outside of the linemen, it'll be their easiest way to a roll on this football team.

Q: Are you expecting a full slate of rookies out there today, or have any injuries turned up in the past few weeks that might limit somebody?

MV: What my experience has been, Karen, is you guys have that roster, and you guys will go and look and check it off. I don't want to do your job for you. I want to allow you to have some interesting things when we stretch and go through all that.

Q: Jake Willcox, the tryout quarterback out of Brown, what made you bring him in for this minicamp?

MV: I think that these tryouts, again, it's a local player looking for an opportunity. We're excited to be able to offer him that, just like we brought in Hector [Johnson] from Endicott. We'll give him every opportunity to compete, to throw. It's an extra arm. He got the same amount of walkthrough reps that Ben [Wooldridge] did, so he'll come out there today and try to take the meetings to the field and the walkthrough to the field.