Sportsnaut
Garrett Bradbury is one of several veteran free agents the Patriots brought in to strengthen the roster this offseason. The longtime Viking should be the starting center for the team in 2025, and is respected veteran in the league.
Now that Bradbury is on his second NFL team, the veteran believes he’s gained some valuable insight. When speaking with the media on Wednesday, Bradbury mentioned some advice he received from a former player after signing with the Patriots.
“A former player said to me after it all happened, ‘It should be mandatory that everyone play for at least 2 organizations.’ Because you get to re-prove yourself, reinvent yourself, and you get to meet a lot of new people, awesome friends, see different ways of doing things,” Bradbury explained.
Bradbury spent the first six seasons of his career with the Vikings before signing a two-year deal with the Patriots this offseason.
“I had (Mike) Zimmer and Kevin O’Connell and that’s kind of all I’ve seen. So now with (Mike) Vrabel, I have a decent perspective on what I think works. And I think what he’s doing is going to work.”
“A former player said to me after it all happened, ‘It should be mandatory that everyone play for at least 2 organizations.’ Because you get to re-prove yourself, reinvent yourself, and you get to meet a lot of new people, awesome friends, see different ways of doing things.
“I… pic.twitter.com/Na2KbjAzZ5
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) August 14, 2025
As Bradbury mentioned, he only knew how one team did things, so he’s enjoyed seeing a new perspective. Zimmer and O’Connell are both respected coaches, and Bradbury was a part of some good Vikings’ teams, so it says a lot that he believes in Vrabel.
Vrabel is in his first season as the head coach for the Patriots. The team brought in the franchise legend after firing Jerod Mayo after one season. Mayo’s short tenure didn’t inspire, and there were questions about whether the players were bough in to the coach’s mentality.
Vrabel, meanwhile, is much more like Bill Belichick, who he played for. The coach brings a no-nonsense approach and gameday preparation shouldn’t be an issue in Foxboro any longer.
Bradbury is getting to reunite with former coaches and players this week as the Patriots are in Minneapolis for joint practices ahead of their preseason matchup.
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