Vrabel on Julian Edelman Being Inducted into the Patriots HOF: “Excited for Him This Weekend.”

Vrabel on Julian Edelman Being Inducted into the Patriots HOF: “Excited for Him This Weekend.”

Hey guys, I’ll start off by saying Keon and Gonzo and Jack Westover will be questionable for the game. No other injury designations. Keon being questionable, how did Christian coming along in his first few practices back? Yeah. You know what I It was again we listed him as limited which means that he did some work and um we’ll still kind of evaluate where he’s at towards uh closer to the game. So again it was good to see him out there. It’s very good to have him out there and more guys that we can get out there the better. Mike, um sort of a bigger picture question the the um no full ads and practices. Just curious. Lost two. Just curious where you have. Do you think that the Okay. No. Full shoulder pads is is full pads like I gota you don’t see the Well, you can’t cut anymore. We don’t cut in practice. I’ve never seen a difference in um having a thigh pad which is that thick is going to be a difference. So, I I’ve never as a player or a coach thought that that was any different and uh actually like the way that we practiced and the speed and what we were able to get done on Thursday. So, um, something Yeah, that’s not a, you know, I mean, we can go back into the time machine and it’s not like you can cut out there on a perimeter or anything that you, there would be no difference to have uh, pants on or shorts or shoulder pads. Some players talked about coming out with a fire last week and just try to keep up the same intensity this week through days of practice. How do you feel the team responded? you know, good. I think it’s um again, Sunday is critical and building consistency is critical and the preparation and how you want to play, but also the response that you have when you play and if it’s not perfect or it’s not going great or they come back and you got to be able to take a few punches and, you know, be able to come back. So hopefully um we’re we’re building that and we’re building that identity that’s critical. Did you guys have a open spot on the roster for a couple weeks? You guys plan on throwing that? I mean, if we if we need to find a 53rd guy, so just gives us a little bit of flexibility. I think this is a tough crowd here. I’m not going to do these on the field from now on. You guys might be a little bit more relaxed. Mike, another uh bigger picture question. I know um quarters based defenses are more popular the last 10 years, but why is this scheme of all the ones you’ve coached in in pra and played in um the best one for for this team? Well, it’s we’re going to be multiple. I mean, we’re not going to, you know, week to week those things are going to change what we’re, you know, think is going to give us the the best chance and, you know, whether that’s cover two or playing man and all the different variations. So hopefully that we stay multiple enough and we can disguise it enough and uh you know limit limiting you know being better in you know explosive games. How do you strike that balance on offense and defense trying to be multiple and do different things each week while still making sure that guys are comfortable doing all those things? Yeah, I mean that’s just what you try to evaluate um and probably defensively it’s it’s probably a little easier just because that’s your normal installation. offense, maybe you want to try, you know, there’s a specific scheme play or something like that that would have some tweaks. And as you practice it, just like defense, if you try to put something in and you don’t think that they um have it, it’s not fair to them to to continue to try to force it to make it work, you know, there’s uh you know, there’s other options, right? And so if you you don’t necessarily think it looks great each week, then then you you try to remove it and you know find an alternative that maybe something that we’ve already done. But you know, defensively, I think we have a full menu of of coverages that we can play. I’m curious, we talked about the tackling and just putting more of an emphasis on that this week. How do you feel the team maybe responded to that in practice? In practice, fine. and we’ll see how the game you know I mean the only thing that matters now is how we how we tackle in the game how we’re able to tackle Warren and Jonnu and DK and Austin and and those those skilled players that that’s what matters um and again there was time you know a lot of times of good tackling and then you know some some um you know I think probably other than I can’t really think of a you know a missed tackle that would that led to some significant gain, right? So that means we’re we’re swarming to the football, right? There’s good evidence of that which will always help miss tackles and you I think if you can just I mean we have to be able to not miss as many tackles but also track what those lead you know I mean the yardage the amount of yardage uh that they lead to. So again we we continue to practice it. We’ll continue to work it and um look for for positive results on Sunday. Garrett Bradbury said that he’s never seen a head coach spend more time at the O line menu. How do you go about deciding how you a lot your time um throughout the week and does that change week to week? Like how do you go about Yeah, I mean I just again I think that my ability to be at a lot of different places. I think that’s part of being a head coach is spending time in the defense, spending time with the Dline and Dline and the O line room are right next to each other. makes it easy to get to. Um, you know, and if I can, as I’m watching film, help from a play style perspective and give input to that, certainly enjoy that. You know, I think just learning it in Tennessee, having my son Tyler played the position, uh, continue to follow it, and then being in Cleveland for a year kind of with that group, I’ve tried to, you know, expand the knowledge in that specific room. So, if I can help at any point, um, I think that it’s probably a good idea. Mike, I know you never coached him. uh went head-to-head with Edelman in a couple different games. Any favorite memories when he was a player here? Uh just a, you know, pure competitor, you know, and just a just a pure warrior out on the field and, you know, just just toughness and, you know, great play demeanor and really willing to do anything to help the football team. So excited for him this weekend and his family and and his journey. We talk about everybody’s journey to this to the NFL and you know it it looks a little different for everybody but you know we’re very worthy to to be in the Hall of Fame here. You spend any time with both ourselves? Just over phone conversations. Mike, how much of your time is spent with these guys throughout the season on individual skill development or are you more macro and then your positional coaches handle the individual? I’m trying to track that. You know, I’m trying to track what we do in individual. try to track how we, you know, how our younger players, our practice squad players are preparing, ask them to prepare as starters and and improve and, you know, get them opportunities and and the way that we practice hopefully is giving them that that that’s those are their reps on the show team. It may be the same as what we do. It may be slightly different, but they’re still running routes to get open. They’re still competing and doing all those things, and they’re still blocking them. And, you know, we don’t want anybody to be a blocking dummy out there. where we want him to go and and practice and work on things. So, I think that that’s gives him great opportunity. Uh so, try to be involved with it. Mike, what was your biggest takeaway from your time being a Pittsburgh Steeler? I think a really well-run family uh organization uh just the Rooney family. Um I was very lucky to be brought into the NFL um by that organization. Learned a lot. great veterans. The veterans that showed us what it was like to be a pro, what it was like, you know, I had guys like Dmani Dawson and Mark Bruner and, you know, can go on and on and on. Leavon Kirkland, Carnell Lake, all these different players that were unbelievable players, but people and husbands and fathers and really that’s what the NFL that I knew. It was it was impressive. Final question.

Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel addresses the media on Friday, September 19, 2025.

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