Sunday Patriots Notes: Mike Vrabel stays consistent in tumultuous offseason

The schedule release is done and dusted, offseason workouts are underway, and a much-speculated trade about a star wide receiver will not happen for two more weeks. Needless to say, we have reached a bit of a quieter time on the NFL calendar.

That said, there is still plenty to talk about. So, in order to clean out the notebook from the week that was, here is the latest edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.

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Mike Vrabel’s consistency

Even though he had led his team to a Super Bowl in his first season and was named NFL Coach of the Year, Mike Vrabel has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons this offseason. The photos that were taken of him and NFL reporter Dianna Russini at an adults-only resort in Arizona earlier this year proved to be a distraction, to a point where Vrabel missed the third day of the draft to undergo counseling.

Through it all, there was speculation about his future with the club. Even though the league is not considering any discipline under its personal conduct policy, the matter impacting Vrabel’s job performance — i.e. him missing parts of the draft — looked like a potential breaking point.

However, inside the building nothing has changed. While Vrabel did address the team on the issue and appeared a bit all over the place in his immediate response, he has since settled back into his usual role.

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Safety Kevin Byard also said as much this week.

“I think he’s just very consistent with his coaching style,” Byard explained. “Even today, they’re doing some special teams, punt drills and he’s the loudest voice on the field. Just coaching the guys, making sure guys’ technique is good. But at the same time, still praising them when they do very well. It’s not like he’s just MF-ing guys or anything like that.

“And then obviously, as we get into our competition stuff at the end, pushing sleds, he’s out there front and center, yelling and things like that. So, no, he’s definitely the same guy that I recognized since Tennessee.”

Even players who, unlike Byard, did not previously work with Vrabel got what was promised to them.

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“I had a few other options, but ultimately I wanted to come here because Coach Vrabel,” said linebacker K.J. Britt, who arrived from the Dolphins in free agency. “Played this game, knows the ins and outs of this game. There’s a lot of stuff that y’all don’t know, that we know, that goes on behind closed doors. Once you got somebody who you could relate with, who’s been through this, that’s what you want to be around.”

Byard, meanwhile, previously worked with Vrabel in Tennessee. After joining the Patriots back in March, the first-team All-Pro continues to see a coach who has an ability to rally players behind him and have them buy into his message.

Off-field scandals and speculation be damned.

“Especially when you’re a young player in this league and you come into this organization, a guy like Mike Vrabel who’s played in this league for a long time, has success, Pro Bowls, All-Pros, won Super Bowls. So, when a guy like that gets in front of the room he commands the room, he commands attention,” Byard said.

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“He’s coaching his technique or telling your effort and finish, or all the things he talks about. It’s very easy to buy in because he’s done it at a high level. I think for any of us players, you want to be coached by somebody that’s going to connect with you as well on a personal level. Because I think that’s what coaching is about; when you are trying to connect with people on that personal level, people want to know that you actually care about them, you want to get to know them. … I think it makes it very easy for you to want to be able to play for a guy like that, and I think that’s one thing that Mike does well.”

No player on the Patriots’ defensive roster played more snaps in 2025 than Craig Woodson, a remarkable achievement for any rookie, let alone one selected on Day 3 of the draft. However, the fourth-round pick never looked back after becoming a defensive cornerstone during his first training camp.

Now off to his sophomore campaign, Woodson is bound to keep building his role — something new arrival Mike Brown is already seeing.

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“He doesn’t carry himself like he was a rookie last year,” Brown said about his fellow safety. “He’s very mature, goes about his business. I can tell he knows what he’s doing. He cares about what he’s doing as well. Good impression of him so far. Great player.”

Scouting Caleb Lomu

The Patriots released a new episode of their Forged in Foxborough series this week, and it features a segment about area scout Landon Simpson describing first-round draft pick Caleb Lomu.