PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
July 27, 2026
Q: How was Taylor's wedding?
MV: It was good. Thank you. It was a fairy tale, or whatever she says in that song. But thanks for asking.
Q: Now that Gabe Jacas is officially in the fold, I know he is on NFI, but do you anticipate him being actively taking part anytime soon?
MV: Again, we talked about this before, that we were going to evaluate him, we are going to see where he is at. This is all part of the process. We would do this with any player who had some extended time away or had surgery in the offseason, just like the other guys. So, I am again, cautiously optimistic that he will work his way through the return to play, and we will get him back out there.
Q: There have been a couple of different reports that you guys are shopping Kayshon Boutte, that he would prefer to play elsewhere. Was that something that you felt the need to address with him, or how do you navigate a situation where --
MV: I have a lot of respect for Kayshon, and we went through this last offseason. He had a great offseason, and he had a good training camp, and that played out during the season. He was a large part of our success, and his communication through this offseason with Todd [Downing] and myself, he is a pro. He understands what his job is, and he has gotten off to a good start. So, I have a lot of respect for him for the way that he has handled all these different situations, the conversations outside of here and the noise that does not affect his performance on the field.
Q: Mike, did you guys do offseason award winners?
MV: We did, and I probably failed to mention that just the other day, but it was a good showing by the second-year group: Kyle Williams, Elijah Ponder, Jared Wilson and Will Campbell. So, that is really good to see from a second-year group. We had a lot of really good efforts in there, and I thought guys made strides, but it was good to see those guys from year one to year two be able to help us establish something in the offseason.
Q: How has Caleb Lomu been acclimating in his first time in the NFL?
MV: Well, there are a lot of new things, a lot of firsts out there, and things that show up. Try to get him some jumbo tight end work, and he will play some tackle, he will play some guard. We are just going to look at some versatility and see where he fits and how he can help us, but there will be a lot of things that are going to be new to him and some techniques that are different and run schemes and pass protection. So, he is a willing participant, he is a willing learner. He learns quick. He usually does not make the same mistake twice.
Q: Mike, I know you are loath to talk about injuries, but I would be remiss if I did not ask that some of the details of Gabe's contract have leaked out, and there is an injury waiver for his left knee. It seems unusual. Is that something the club was aware of when he was drafted back in April?
MV: Well, I think the one thing is I am not going to talk about specific contracts or the details with the contract. The most important thing is that Gabe is here, that we are all on the same page and that we are excited to move forward with Gabe. We try to explain to him that again, with everything in this business, in professional sports, we have talked about that there is a professional side and there is a personal side. He had to deal with the professional side much earlier than some other players in their careers. So, we have maintained a personal relationship, and Smitty [Mike Smith] did the same thing as his position coach. He, by all accounts, has been working hard and is ready to go, and we will evaluate that here over the next couple of days and be able to acclimate him as quickly as possible.
Q: Is there any real possibility he could miss the season?
MV: Again, I don't want to say. Nothing is 100%. I don't anticipate that whatsoever. I don't. I am excited where he is at. I am excited that he wants to be here, he wants to get going, and he does not want to be on the field with the trainer, I will tell you that. He wants to get back out there, play ball and be the player that we drafted and wanted to be here.
Q: Do you feel like your personal relationship with him has gotten off on the right foot? You guys all spoke about how much you liked him as a player or as a person right after you drafted him. Still feel the same way about him?
MV: Yeah, of course. There are things that everybody can control and there are things that you cannot. When they are here, I am going to coach him, I am going to get to know him, and I am going to do everything that I can to push him, help him and try to get him acclimated as quickly as possible. These are all things that we have to deal with as coaches at this level. When they are here, it is our job to get them ready and help them improve.
Q: Mike, with A.J. Brown coming in when he did, was there any kind of additional onboarding or work with coaches that you had to do to get him up to speed, or a guy of his stature --
MV: Well, there is a lot there to unpack as a receiver, especially if you want to move around and you do not want to just line up in one spot. There is a lot there. So, A.J. worked really hard with Todd (Downing) and his position coach, and they will continue to do that. We have a lot of walkthroughs and things like that that help them get acclimated in how we move players around. So, I think he will have plenty of time through training camp and everything that we are going to do to make sure that he is where he needs to be. It is the same thing when we sign a receiver in training camp. You look at Kobe Prentice, and he is trying to do the same thing. He is trying to figure something out so that he can be evaluated.
Q: What kind of growth have you seen from Eli Raridon since he came in the spring?
MV: Well, again, Eli, new offense, new scheme, new NFL. Capable, willing learner. We will see when pads come on; things change, but I think he has tried to play with the speed that we felt like he had and may not always have shown. Sometimes with the younger players it is, 'Hey, let us go play and push the envelope, and let us play faster,' almost to the point of out of control, and then we can coach the details and dial you back. Really, it is just to understand the speed of this game at this level. Sometimes they try to be right, and in trying to be right, they do not play as fast. Not that I have given some of these young guys a free pass to make mistakes, but we can coach mistakes; we cannot coach you to play faster.
Q: After you guys lost Antonio Gibson last year, you guys cycled through a handful of different guys as the kick returner. What do you think about the group now coming into the season? Has there been anyone who has distinguished themselves over the course of the spring and the summer?
MV: It is really hard. We did not spend a whole lot of time on kickoff return. It is a critical play, which we will spend a lot of time going forward. But you are right, that has to be somebody that we can find that can help us create field position and makes teams think about kicking off to us or putting the ball in the end zone and giving it to us at the 35 because we have a real weapon there. You saw the impact that Marcus [Jones] made for us in the return game when we could force teams to punt last year, and the difference that that made in a lot of games. We will continue to cycle through and take a look at some of these receivers, but also look at some of these running backs that can kind of help us.
Q: Mike, you mentioned the other day calling a lot of zone-block stuff, non-padded practices. When you are scripting the pass plays for these practices, are you trying to marry those same concepts specifically to play action? What is the thinking there?
MV: Yeah, we are. It is just that some of the play action you have to get into the blocks a little bit more. We do. It is just, I think some of that stuff marries a little better when we have pads on, and I think as you bring up practice, today is going to look very different than some of the other days that we have. We are in more of a walkthrough, jogthrough day. This is our fourth day of what we would call speed. We had the run test, which obviously is a speed, two days of practice, and then just from a load management standpoint, trying to make today a walkthrough or a jogthrough. So, I do not want you guys to be caught off guard. I know there were probably some questions or conversations about that last year, that this is something that we feel like can help us be able to learn and still develop and install it at different paces. It was good for us last year. If we can handle that, then hopefully we can continue with this. When we work, we work. I think you guys noticed that. Then being able to come out there today and still act like a professional football team and take care of the details and some of the technique, but just at a different pace.
Q: Prior to trading for A.J., there was a lot made of a potential knee condition for him. You had him in minicamp, you have had him through two days of training camp practice. I know it is still early, but physically --
MV: There is, I mean, I think a lot of things get fabricated and people tell stories. We did not --what other teams think or thought. We are very confident in where he is at physically. He has done every single thing. Will he do every single thing? Nope. He will have time where me, Frank [Piraino], Jim [Whalen] or us as a group decide that, just like Morgan [Moses] yesterday, just like Reggie [Gilliam] yesterday, there will be things. But I think he has gotten off to a really good start, both mentally and physically, and acclimating himself to his team.
Q: When you were in Tennessee, there was a lot of turnover at kicker, punter, long snapper. How important is it?
MV: Well, we did not make enough kicks, so if we make kicks, we will have the same kicker. It is important that we make all our field goals, and it is important that we are able to change field position and get the ball off. You have to protect for those guys. But obviously, having Andy [Borregales] make the type of big kicks that he made last year, we felt very comfortable having him back. Bryce [Baringer] is such a calming piece for Andy and does a nice job. Really, we want our punters to be great holders and excellent at plus-50 punts. If we punt, we want them to be plus-50. That means we are moving the football and giving me a decision whether we are going to go for it on fourth down or we are going to punt. So, again, we cannot take those guys for granted, and the reason when they do their job, you never hear about them.
