PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
August 15, 2026
Q: Do you have any more clarity on Ben Brown's injury?
MV: Ben is going to be a few weeks. Four-to-six, eight, 10, 12. Even numbers. But it will probably be extensive throughout the rest of the preseason for sure.
Q: Will we see any of the injured or PUP players out here today, maybe Christian [Gonzalez]?
MV: I don't think I would expect Christian, nor should you expect Christian. Nope. Working hard, conditioning, but will not be practicing. He's not ready to get back out there and practice yet. [Christian] Elliss may do a little bit. CD [Carlton Davis III], it'll be good to see him come back. [Charles] Woods, I think, will come back. Again, just working through protocol, but hopefully he'll be back. He just had a few appointments here early as we speak. But the PUP guys, no.
Q: Mike, we all know the contract thing going on with Christian. Are you guys on the same page right now?
MV: Absolutely. And I think that's the important thing. I've talked about his professionalism, everybody else's. So, this isn't anything like that. It was something that happened in practice, and he's where he's supposed to be when he needs to be there. Treatment, working with Frank [Piraino] and doing those things. But yes, obviously, that's my job, is to be on the same page with everybody here, players and coaches. And I'm confident that that's what we are doing, and everybody has a plan each and every day.
Q: The volume of this week with four practices and the joints, how do you maximize everything here?
MV: It's going to look a little different. It's Thursday to Saturday, Philly coming in, so today will be good work in the redzone, two-minute, some situations. Tomorrow will be lighter. We'll come back, and then whatever the fourth day is will be lighter, and then we will have two days of Philly. So, that's pretty good volume. Four padded practices, two that we expect to be really good intensity. I hope today is really good. If we can find a way to get down to the redzone, and hopefully we can be better than we were last year defensively. We'll have to be much better.
Q: Mike, what was your message to Andy [Borregales] now that he has kind of got through this rough patch?
MV: There's really no message. We all understand that we have to be able to execute, and I'm confident, just like I've always been, in Andy, that he'll make them. We went for it a lot of times in those situations last year. And with preseason, just trying to be able to work some things, stretch him and the distance. Whether we go for them or not, they just have to be ready to go and make those kicks, and just wanted to try to keep pushing the envelope. I know we can always go for it on fourth-and-2 at the 35 or 36 yard line, but we're going to need those kicks.
Q: Mike, on Kyle Williams, we have obviously seen the speed, but what other aspects of his game would you like to see him improve on to take that next jump?
MV: Each guy has things that they're going to work on coming off the first game. Just Kyle's confidence, going inside the numbers and running some intermediate routes. Continue to develop awareness of the situation, trying to come back for that football and knowing where he needs to be to help us get some yards on an underthrown ball.
Q: What would be better, being a coach or a player?
MV: Player. Coaching stinks, buddy. I tell them, play as long as you can, because then you got to get a real job.
Q: Mike, do you anticipate adding some help on the interior offensive line?
MV: Yep, I think we're going to sign two guys this morning, and we'll get those names out to you or jersey numbers or whatever, but hopefully they'll be out there. But they just showed up this morning.
Q: Coach, talk a little bit about what you saw out of Gabe [Jacas] and Caleb [Lomu] after watching the film from Thursday night.
MV: I think it's the first start. I think there's a lot of room for improvement. So, that's why we coach. I think they're willing, I think they're capable, and we just keep coaching and keep working with Gabe, knowing that some of those things that'll translate from special teams have to translate to defense, and we try to explain to him that whatever it was in the joint practice, it's going to be faster in the game. Things happen quicker. And these are all great learning experiences for these guys. So, I'm excited to keep working with him and so are our coaches, and they're two young players that we want to continue to develop and hopefully be guys that can help us.
Q: We talked to Dell [Pettus] a couple weeks ago about a conversation that the defensive backs had about takeaways, being aggressive to the ball and forcing interceptions, that kind of thing. How have you seen Kevin's [Byard III] leadership skills manifest themselves in that group in the short time?
MV: He was here extensively in the offseason, and that's what you have to do when you come into a new team, is just to earn the respect of these guys. Even though Kevin has always played at a high level, has been available for his team and produced, you have to prove it each and every year, and I think his willingness to learn how we do things and bring some of the things that maybe he did in Chicago or some of the stuff that he did in Tennessee with us. But he just has, I always say professionalism, but I really always appreciate to have guys like that, that you can trust, that may make a mistake, but they're not going to make too many of them. They won't make the same mistake twice. And he understands how critical the football is, making plays down the field and the risk-reward of some of those things. So, it's comforting, it's calming, and I've always talked about how Kevin never gets really too high or too low. And you see some of these guys, they're exhausted after a first couple plays, and Kevin just saves his energy for when the ball is snapped, and I've always appreciated that about him.
Q: Mike, we've seen a lot of different cornerbacks mixing and matching with Christian and Carlton now. What have you seen from that competition and from Kindle [Vildor] in particular?
MV: Very aggressive. He wants to play physical. I think just being a little bit more multiple is something that he's really focused on, and our coaches have tried to do a great job with that. So, not just playing man coverage, not just pressing, not just trying to jam him and be physical at the line of scrimmage, but use some of the other tools that we have, some of the other coverages and become familiar with those, that'll just help you. Playing man is great, but then being able to mix some of those things up, and I think Kindle has done that, and he's an aggressive player and physical.
Q: What were your thoughts on Eli Raridon's blocking against the Colts and on some of those downhill concepts? Is the expectation to create movement, or is it more to just hold your ground when you are blocking different guys?
MV: I mean, we want to move him as far as we can possibly move him. I thought it was okay. I think he continues to improve blocking and he's willing, and so that's the one thing that I really think I've been pleasantly surprised with, just his willingness to do that. We talk about, if you want to get technical, outside zone, we talk about running off the football. So, you're going to have a little bit narrower base, but you're trying to create some horizontal and vertical movement at the line of scrimmage. Some of the inside runs, we talk about coming off the ball, and certainly when we base block a nine technique, we would like to, at worst, make it be a stalemate. We know some of those matchups get a little funky in the National Football League based on some of those guys that are out there. But then just not being able to let them restrict us and push us back into the gap. So, I think there was maybe one example where we probably would have liked to not get pushed back after the initial block, which I thought was good, and then you just have to be able to sustain, and Eli will continue to work on that.
Q: Mike, Romeo [Doubs] seemed to string together several good practices last week.
MV: Yeah. I saw it the same way, Mike [Giardi].
Q: Is that sort of less thinking and just more him more reacting, do you think?
MV: I think just new offense, new year, figuring out the player, getting to know him. Really, a lot of positive things, I think, trending in the right direction. I said this about Todd [Downing], Todd is very conscientious about each one of his players, what each of them needs to learn the offense, where they need to be, what routes are going to be really good for them and the decisions that they need to make. And I think he's just working through some of that stuff with those guys, and I think he found where Rome can really help us - be big, fast and aggressive, and I think that showed up in some practices that you saw. It's just figuring out what they do best, seeing what you can realistically improve, and then put them in those spots to help build their own confidence, and then also a place where they can help the football team.
Q: How have you seen John Saunders Jr. grow from a rookie to this year?
MV: John showed up, and we just asked him to practice a little better and use practice. We talked about those days where we're letting the show team go and letting them try to really improve throughout the season. When John was back, we just said, "Hey, you have to practice better. You have to have better practice habits. That's the only place you're going to get your reps." And it got to the point where we had to dial him back where he was blitzing or tackling, and I was like, "This is great." And I think he used those examples in practice to improve, and mentally he's kept working, and it's been great to see him show up and get into that competition.
Q: What about K.J. Britt? We saw the back-to-back plays the other night with the second one where he punched the ball out. What did he show you in that game?
MV: Well, obviously K.J. showed up with a veteran presence, and he's been in this league, physical presence, trying to play physical, help us on special teams, and add versatility. Trying to play both positions inside. I just have appreciated the way he showed up, how he approached the offseason and now he's been given a chance to compete.
Q: With the offense and defense on the field together, throwing around trash talk here and there. In your opinion, has the offense or defense been better at the trash talking?
MV: I don't know. I really haven't kept score. The defense is probably louder. I'm always telling the offense, "Look, we'll see what it looks like today." We're in the redzone, so we'll see what the celebrations look like and see where that goes from there. I don't know. I really haven't kept score on the trash talking. Probably whoever has made the more plays.
Q: How does that help build them up, the competition during training camp?
MV: Well, I think that's just all part of this. They spend a lot of time together. They're in the locker room, in the meeting rooms, in treatment, and all this other stuff. So, I think it's good banter. It's positive. We don't want to do anything that crosses the line, certainly. And some guys have the ability to talk a little bit out there, and some guys probably shouldn't. It takes them out of their game. Some guys, it's just not very natural. And some guys talk all the time. I've got to try to shut Cory Durden up, and I'm like, "Okay, Cory, you made your point." I'm sure it sounds a lot like what I used to talk like. Again, with ourselves and our team, we want to make sure that we're competitive, and certainly not doing that would hurt the team.
Q: Were you undefeated as a trash talker?
MV: I wasn't undefeated, but I probably had a decent record.
Q: Mike, going back to Kevin, you mentioned a couple weeks ago about having all the freedom pre-snap and within certain calls for movement. Is that something he's earned, or is that something a lot of the safeties are granted?
MV: Again, every team has a different cadence. Every quarterback has how they're going to undress the coverage on third down, how they're going to be able to get us to jump offsides or where are they going to snap the ball based on the play clock, and some of the mannerisms. So, some teams will just get out there, call it, haul it, and we better be where we need to be. Some other teams want to get all the information that they can, and sometimes you go on the ball and they're not necessarily going fast. They're trying to gather information and then put the offense in the call that they want. So, I think they have to have a really good understanding of what the quarterback's intentions are, and then work accordingly off of that, and not just go rogue. We don't want to be out of position, certainly, but don't want to tell them what we're doing right away either.
Q: Are you pleased with where you guys are at this phase of training camp with your install?
MV: I think this will be a big week for us. I think we talked yesterday about where we're at, the list of stuff that we like, that we don't like, that we would still like to investigate a little bit. So, we have to do some of that here in the next couple days, and we'll have a couple things here in the redzone that may be new additions, some things to look at. And then, we don't want to just throw a bunch of stuff out there. You want to have a base. You want to have some core stuff, and then we'll continue to add as we work our way through camp.
