New England Patriots - NESN.com
One thing that makes the Mike Vrabel era in New England so special is that it is his team.
No talk about him taking over for Bill Belichick, or leading the Patriots to their first winning season (hopefully) since Bill Belichick in 2021. No talk of him restoring the culture in the Patriots locker room to Bill Belichick’s standards.
The only talk is about how he is leading this team to so much success under Drake Maye. Now the talk is how he continues to wash his hands of players drafted or signed by Bill Belichick.
On Tuesday, the Patriots reportedly traded Keion White and a seventh-round pick to the San Francisco 49ers for a sixth-round pick. They also sent Kyle Dugger and a seventh-rounder to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a sixth-round pick.
Now he did just extend Marcus Jones, who was drafted by Belichick in 2022– but then came the Dugger and White trades.
Go back to the summer and Jabrill Peppers, a Belichick free agency signee in 2022 who then got an extension under Jerod Mayo in 2024, was released before signing with the Steelers.
All three are impact, starting-caliber players. All three were prominent players under Bill Belichick. Now Mike Vrabel continues to move past all of them in favor of his guys.
