Why Mike Vrabel is PERFECT FIT for Drake Maye & New England Patriots | THE HERD NFL w/ Colin Cowherd

Why Mike Vrabel is PERFECT FIT for Drake Maye & New England Patriots | THE HERD NFL w/ Colin Cowherd

So, it was about uh probably about four months ago, four or five months ago. It was um what are we in August, July, June, June, it was teams were hiring had just finished up hiring their coaches in the NFL. So that’s probably about March and I was talking I was driving on the 405 headed home and I was uh I called a friend of mine who’s a an executive in the NFL who has done h who has hired uh multiple coaches in his career his long career and he said you know what you’re really doing when you hire a coach is in the NFL you’re hiring a CEO if they’re good with schemes that’s a bonus and he mentioned like Shanahan and Andy Reid he said yeah that’s a bonus But they don’t have to be. He said, you know, Mike Tomlin’s hoisted a trophy. Uh Pete Carol has been to a couple Super Bowls. They’re walkound guys. They’re CEOs. They’re And he goes, “You’re you’re you’re what you if you have a guy that’s great with schemes, but he’s terrible in building a culture, that won’t work. If you have a guy who’s not necessarily great with schemes, but he can hire a great staff, he’s great with culture, that can get you to Super Bowls and win Super Bowls. And so when the Patriots hired Mike Vrabel, Vrabel’s really smart, but he’s known as a culture guy. He builds toughness. And so they got into a scuffle uh at New England uh practice and Frabel and this is this is very much Mike Vrabel. This is Dan Campbell talking about biting kneecaps. Dan Campbell is a smart guy but he’s a culture guy and he walked into Detroit and he was yelling. He had a dip in and he was tough. He was creating a culture of toughness. Take his shirt off and bang into Harbaugh does this. He’ll take his shirt off. He’ll go up against the sled. Harbaugh knows schemes, but Harbaugh’s a culture builder. So Vrabel gets into a scuffle. You they have some scuffle. He jumps into it and his head gets all bloody and Drake May was talking about him breaking up the camp scuffle. And it starts with the coach, starts with the head coach, the intensity. Um bringing it every day. Uh you know, taking no crap, you know, right out there on the field. Um, but also it comes at a time where uh with our guys offensively and getting over there and getting some tussles and kind of having some penalties and extra after the whistle can get us in trouble. But for mentality, I like it. So, and again, it helps. It helps that Vrabel is a large man. But Nick Sabin’s a culture builder and he’s 5’6. You didn’t know that. He’s 5’6. So, that’s not everything. Urban Meyer’s more of a bigger athletic man. Mike Tomlin’s a culture guy. uh Vrabel is Dan Campbell is and and and then that’s one of the things I have said I mean I always thought remember when the Bulls and the Knicks would get into these series or the Miami Heat and Alonzo Morning and Patrick Huing I love that Jeff Van those were physical series and the Knicks were trying to establish physicality in that series and Jeff Van Gundy knew it and Van Gundy’s nuts anyway I love him but he knew how important physicality was in this series and the NBA was going to let him fight and Van Gundy wanted to send the message I’m I might be 55 and a half but I I’ll fight with you. Look at Van Gun. This video is so good. Van Gundy knew it was intentional. He didn’t want to get hit but he knew he was sending a message. You’re not pushing my team around. This is a dog fight and I’ll take my tie off. I’ll fight you. That is so incredibly powerful. That is so powerful. And so when Frabel does, and that’s what I’ve said about Mike McDaniel. I don’t question that Mike McDaniel’s smart, but he’s a little guy and he’s kind of snarky and the media likes him and the analytic guys love him. You know, Brandon Staley was smart, but I didn’t know if he could build a culture. He’d get defensive at the microphone. Some guys smart doesn’t equal alpha and there is that you got 55 men in a locker room and and Nick Wright came on this week and we both think McDaniel is super bright but what are the Dolphins four years in what are Brian Flores it took him eight games remember they were like 1 and seven it took him eight games to build the culture but by like the ninth tenth game of his Miami reign and you didn’t have have to like Brian Flores that team was good defensively and physical and Brian Flores is an alpha and he’s loud and he’s tough, maybe too much so, but I think there is value in certain sports when you get to the NBA playoffs and it is physical. I mean, Steve Kerr is legendarily feisty. He got punched by Michael Jordan. Part of what makes the Warriors work in their prime was Draymond Green, Steve Kerr, Andre Iguadala. It was a tough team. They weren’t big. They were feisty. There was a lot of confrontation. Pat Riley’s teams with the Lakers. Pat’s all slick in Armani suits. Pat was a fighter. Pat when he went to the Knicks, Pat loved physicality. And Pat would let guys know. Pat would bark at refs, bark at everybody. It matter. And this was Nick, right? This has always been my thing with Mike McDaniel. I don’t doubt he’s smart. Can he build Lincoln Riley? Same criticism. We know he’s smart. Can he build a culture? Why aren’t his teams tougher? Here’s Nick Wright this week on Mike McDaniel. Some of the reason that the media loves him might also be related to why his team pretty clearly does not fear him the way they seem to some of the more effective coaches. But I think that there is an arrogance to the idea that that in some ways that football is talked about uh when it comes to the actual physicality and toughness of the game that gets lost in some of the math. I it’s and it’s not just size. Again, Sabin’s 5’6. I I I think Shawn McVey is about 5’9, 5’10. I’ve talked to Rams players about McVey. He is he is probably right now as good as any culture builder in the league. He’s probably the best culture builder. McVeyy’s unbelievable in the locker room. He is unbelievable in the film room. Like, and I’m talking as good as anybody that’s ever been. Shawn McVey may be as good as any culture builder in league history. He’s 5’9, 5’10. Sabin’s 5’6, but there is something. It’s volume, it’s presence. McVey is good-look, you know, he was a he was a good athlete. And I I just think this stuff matters. And uh the media thinks it’s a bunch of bull, but that’s that’s my thing. When Mike Vrabel’s getting involved in a scuffle or Jeff Van Gundy is it’s intentional. It’s like guys I’m in the fight with you. Yeah. Know I’m and Vable’s got blood coming out of his forehead. It’s like that’s Mike Vrabel. You go back to Dan Campbell early. I thought it was a little meattheady. I was wrong. I was like boy this biting kneecap stuff. This is embarrassing. I missed players. I remember it was either the first or second year of Detroit and they weren’t good yet. I don’t. They played Baltimore and I think they played them at home and Baltimore beat them. And I went on the air and I remember saying this. I said, “I don’t know how good Detroit is. That team plays so hard. Every stinking the kneel down play it was physical.” And I think I don’t know I don’t remember what year it was. They weren’t great. They were getting close but they played the Ravens. I think it was um I think it was you know you’ve heard of the word sweat equity. This is kind of part of it. It it was like early in the process against the Ravens and Ravens had far more talent and I was so blown away by how physical they were. You don’t get that unless the coach is building a unique culture. You just don’t get it. Did you guys find what game that was? I don’t know. I I just remember I was I swear it was the Ravens.

Colin Cowherd reacts to New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel stepping in and stopping a fight at practice and discusses comments by Drake Maye on the story.

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