PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
July 25, 2025
Q: How tough is it for a second-year player like Ja'Lynn Polk to be missing so much valuable time and trying to make the team?
MV: Well, I mean, there's a lot of ways around being out here at practice. I think that everybody, whether that's a first-year, second-year, ten-year, we think that practice is important, but obviously there's circumstances around being out here and not being out here and how you can stay up with the installation. At the beginning part of camp, there is installation. It's a repeat from the spring. So, hopefully, any player that's not out here can stay engaged, continue to learn and get the information that they need, and then be ready when they get back. I think that's the important thing, and that's what – just focusing on doing everything that you can to get back as quickly as possible, but also when you do get back, there's not a big drop-off of information lost when you get back.
Q: A guy like Keion White, what have you seen from him? What did you learn about him, and how good can this kid be?
MV: Well, I mean, I love Keion's attitude. He's a worker, he's here early, he's got a routine that I think has worked for him, practices hard, he's conditioned. So, again, as we work through this and progress, – and we're just a couple days into this – but I think Keion's got a great attitude. I love kind of just being able to coach him. He's very receptive to – he's a very coachable player.
Q: He [Keion White] has always been very straightforward with us. Is he like that with you guys?
MV: Yeah, I mean, I think all our – most everybody, I would imagine, are hopefully straightforward. I mean, Keion, there's not a lot of fluff to him. I mean, our conversations are mostly – he wants to know football, he wants to talk football. That's his profession, that's his career, that's his passion. So, we talk a lot of football, and I've enjoyed getting to know him.
Q: Mike, what's stuck out to you about Jared Wilson this offseason?
MV: I think that he's a quick learner. He's been able to learn two positions inside, as far as center and guard. I would say, to Karen [Guregian]'s question, he was one of those players that maybe wasn't out there as much on the field in the spring, but really was able to grasp it mentally and allow that to carry over when he had an opportunity to be on the field. So, he was able to show, for a young player, some of those things to be ready when he got his opportunity to be on the field.
Q: Christian Barmore said that he's dropped, I don't know, he's around 305 [lbs.]. That's where he wants to play. Is that something that you guys wanted from him?
MV: It's a group effort with our players and kind of seeing where they're at in the spring. That's why we think that the spring is important to evaluate their conditioning level, their weight, their strength, how they're able to do their job. We have conversations, myself and Frank [Piraino], with the players and where they end up, and we'll try to see what's best for each guy.
Q: Mike, with [K'Lavon] Chaisson, he seems almost young for a guy going into year six. Did you see any untapped potential the way he finished last season in Vegas?
MV: I think that's probably a good way to look at it. It takes some players a little longer than it takes others, and I would say that I'm hopeful that his best football is in front of him. I'm very excited about how he came in personality-wise and what he's shown on the field thus far. So, that's an interesting, fun room to be around. You mentioned Keion and K.C. [K'Lavon Chaisson], and Harold [Landry III] and Anfernee [Jennings]'s a veteran, and then we've got some younger guys in there as well.
Q: Mike, listening to some of the guys talk yesterday, they were saying they were getting to know each other, and obviously that ties to one of your objectives of forming a team. I'm curious where that came from, your coaching philosophy, in terms of putting that as an important thing.
MV: We spend a lot of time together. It's a team sport. We need everybody to function properly. We need them at the right time to put the team first, and we're going to ask everybody to make tough decisions, and hopefully, the better that you know somebody, understand who they're playing for, what they're doing and who they're trying to support, the things that we have going on outside of here, there's a lot of similarities, that the more you get to know somebody, I think the better it is to work with.
Q: Just to follow up on that, specific to the locker room, how intentional are you in terms of the way you set it up? Putting certain guys together, or is it just sort of easy?
MV: I think it's positionally. I think that, right now, it's positionally to the best of our ability. We're going to get a new locker room, we'll have a ton of space, and we'll be able to, I think, get a little bit more creative in April, when we're able to get in there. We have a limited amount of spaces in the locker room that we have now.
Q: Mack Hollins, we saw him here yesterday with cleats on. So, is he coming back anytime soon?
MV: He won't be out there today. Mack won't be out there today, that I can guarantee you, but we'll see where that goes. He's working extremely hard. He's a player that, again, I think he's stayed engaged, and he's really been able to – when you're on these lists, you can't even do the walkthroughs, so he has to be in the meetings, and then he kind of works out on a separate field, and then he can't even be engaged in the walkthroughs. So, he just has to watch and be able to process the information. But he's a pro, and he spends a lot of time here. I've seen him mentoring and working with the younger guys as well.
Q: Mike, as a coach, these pop quizzes that you like to give guys on the spot and that kind of thing, how big of a tool is that for you as a coach and what's the overall purpose of that style?
MV: Well, we want to make sure that everybody's stimulated, that they stay engaged. It's called direct teaching and being able to spin it back the same way that we give you the information. Again, that takes time. I feel like it's when a player does know, that they answer confidently, they answer clearly and it gives them confidence, but it also gives the players that they're out there with confidence that they know what they're doing. And if they don't know, I just tell them, 'Say I don't know.' Then I'm allowed to – that's our job now to come in as teachers, to reapply the information and give it to them until they're able to process it. But when guys start answering questions in front of teammates correctly, you start to see their confidence go up, and the other players are excited about going out there and playing with them.
Q: I have a question about [Mack] Hollins. So, with a veteran player like he is, he hasn't been able to practice much, how do you evaluate his potential impact on the field?
MV: Well, that would just be a prediction, and I'm not making a prediction, so we'll just evaluate him when he's out there. I can evaluate the person, I can evaluate his character off the field, the way that he works in the weight room, the way that he carries himself in the meetings, around the building and in his interactions with everybody in the building. But right now, anything that would be speculation on the field. So, when he's out there, then we'll be able to evaluate him as a player.
Q: Hey, Mike, we've heard receivers the last couple of days talk about how Stefon Diggs has kind of raised the bar in that room. The guys who practice against him, the cornerbacks, how much does a player like that, with elite production, skills, expedite their development, challenge them?
MV: Just trying to create a competitive environment that everybody's working together, no different than offensive linemen, defensive linemen. That's why we like to practice against other teams. There's other players around the league that play the same position, but they do it with a different skill set, different size, speed, length, route craft, whatever that may be. So, those are good opportunities for our players to see other players around the league, and ones that – hopefully the ones that we would play in the season.
Q: After reviewing the tape yesterday, how did you feel the offense did in terms of maximizing first-down opportunities, and what will the focus be in today's situation?
MV: We're going to add third-down today. The practice is, guys, we go through this all the time. There's going to be some good plays, there's going to be some bad ones, and then obviously the ones that we have to try to eliminate. I think they started out okay, and then I don't think we finished as well as we started, and that's got to change. They have to understand that we're trying to get the practices the same way the games would. So, if we're not finishing a practice, then we have to hopefully fix that and correct it so that we can finish in a game, we can pick up some crucial first downs if we're leading, or if we're in a two-minute situation and we need some plays, to go down there and get a score. But today will be a lighter day so that you guys can understand that this will be more of a walkthrough. But again, it's important, I think, to see how our team responds and are able to work in that capacity. I'm hopeful that we can get something out of this, come back, really have some speed tomorrow and really have a good one tomorrow before our day off.
Q: Mike, we didn't see Carlton Davis [III] out there yesterday. I know he started on one of the lists. Was that just easing him back in?
MV: Yeah, just kind of maintenance and continuing to kind of give him what he needs as part of the plan. Again, that's my job each and every day, is to figure out what everybody's going to do and how they're going to contribute each day to us winning.
Q: Mike, a while back you told us that the team would be active in trying to improve the team, picking up players here and there as needed. When a guy like Christian Wilkins becomes available, is that someone you would kick the tires on?
MV: Well, I mean, I think we'll have a conversation. I mean, this is pretty new, so I don't have all the information on where Christian is. I know Christian, recruited him when he was up here in the area in Connecticut going to high school, so I'm sure we'll have a conversation.
Q: Mike, we're still getting to know some of the new players you brought in. I'm curious, with Robert Spillane, what would you say some of his strengths are as a player?
MV: He's very a competitive, prideful leader. He plays with a lot of energy. He plays with passion. Great communicator. Plays with a level of violence in the run game. I think he's got a little level of versatility to him, too.
Q: Just kind of building on that, are there specific traits or body types that you look for in a linebacker?
MV: Just ones that can tackle and find the football. Can they blitz? Can they cover? There's a lot of match-ups now with running backs that people are trying to create. So can they cover? Communication, body types, I think there are all different shapes and sizes. Nowadays, I don't think that there's a specific size. It's the ability to do their job. Can they take off blocks? Can they slip off? What are their instincts? Their ability to tackle, not only in the box, but in the open field. Can they play sideline-to-sideline? Play perimeter runs and outside zones and swings and all this other stuff. So, there's a level of versatility, I think, that's critical nowadays.
