New England Patriots - NESN.com
There will be an overflow of differences and new beginnings at One Patriot Place in the coming months.
That comes with the territory of a rebuilding team. New England figures to have a lot of new faces in its locker room and it already overhauled its coaching staff. The hallmark of that coaching turnover, of course, was Mike Vrabel replacing Jerod Mayo.
Vrabel is an old-school kind of coach, one who doesn’t hesitate to be hard on his players. NBC Sports Boston’s Phil Perry reminded Drake Maye of that style Wednesday, and the franchise quarterback expressed how excited he was to be coached in that fashion.
“For me as a player, especially as a quarterback, you want that. You like that,” Maye told Perry. “You want to be coached hard. We’re playing at the highest level, but we still want to be coached. I think that’s the biggest thing people get away from. We don’t know everything. Especially me, just finished my rookie year and coming into my second season, I don’t know everything. I want to be coached hard. I know Coach (Josh) McDaniels will get that done and Coach Vrabel, (too). Some of our guys, including me, we probably need that — a little hard coaching.”
Maye’s remarks were made mere hours after another franchise cornerstone highlighted one of the biggest problems that plagued the Patriots in 2024. Christian Gonzalez lamented how “lax” the energy was in the facility this season, and Maye seemingly agreed that Mayo didn’t create a helpful environment.
That doesn’t figure to be a problem with a problem with Vrabel, who has been a critical component to winning cultures at virtually every stop of his football career.
