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LOS ANGELES, CA – JULY 14: Former NFL player Willie McGinest attends the Variety Sports Entertainment Breakfast at Vibiana on July 14, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Variety)
When it comes to defensive players of the recent Patriots championship era, there are few who were more popular in their time than Mike Vrabel, the team’s current head coach. Vrabel made his name as a linebacker the Patriots plucked from the Steelers, and then added to his legend as a gadget pass-catcher out of the backfield. That’s going to win you points with fans, of course. But it’s doubtful that Vrabel carries quite the approval rating of one particular Patriots star of that generation: former first-round pick Willie McGinest.
McGinest was with the Patriots from 1994 through 2005, before wrapping up his career with three seasons in Cleveland. He was on hand for the Patriots’ rise from the ashes under Bill Parcells and a return to the Super Bowl in 1996, and was still excelling through the Pete Carroll era and into the first three Super Bowl titles the team won under Bill Belichick and Tom Brady in the early 2000s.
He was Vrabel’s teammate and fellow pass-rusher for five years, and in that time, the two formed a tight bond that remains. McGinest, then, remains a big Patriots fan but especially with Vrabel in charge.
Mike Vrabel’s Patriots ‘Putting Team Over Individualism’
Speaking on the “Patriots All Access” show this week at Patriots.com, McGinest revealed that though there are similarities with this current group and the Patriots team that shocked the NFL world and beat the Rams in the 2001 Super Bowl, this is a distinctly Vrabel-type bunch.
“He’s taking all that in his own way and he’s filtering it through the team, and you can kinda see with everybody,” McGinest said. “The question I get is, ‘Does this remind you of the ’01 team where nobody thought you guys would be where you were and you guys just came out of nowhere?’
“Yeah, but it takes a coach like that that has that experience and understands and know, to be on a team to build it inside out. Guys having fun but working hard, being accountable, the preparation, believing in yourself, putting team over individualism—all the things that he’s incorporating.”
GettyNew England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel has won 10 straight games in 2025.
Patriots Finally Get a Bye Week
Vrabel’s first season in New England was in 2001, that first Patriots championship–one in which Vrabel finally got a chance at being a starter after four years playing behind some very good pass-rushers for Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh. Vrabel also played at Ohio State for Hall of Famer John Cooper.
Said McGinest: “He played for some great coaches and he’s implementing that but he’s doing it Vrabel style, so I am proud of him. I told him that. I enjoy watching him on the sideline and hopefully this team can keep going in the right direction.”
The Patriots are 11-2, atop the AFC and on a 10-game winning streak, as they enjoy their Week 14 bye.
Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney
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