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Mike Vrabel discussed ‘rat’ comments, Stefon Diggs’ preseason playing time, and Morgan Wallen cameo
"I tried to entertain you guys a little bit."
Mike Vrabel’s weekly interviews begin prior to Patriots season: The Patriots open the 2025 NFL season on Sept. 7 at home against the Raiders. With Week 1 closing in, first-year head coach Mike Vrabel began his weekly Monday interviews with WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”
Initially, Vrabel was asked about his unexpected appearance at a Gillette Stadium Morgan Wallen concert on Friday, when he walked out with the country music star.
Vrabel explained that he first saw Wallen play before the Tennessee musician became famous.
“I mean I saw him play in front of 1,200 people in a warehouse in like 2019. He’s doing pretty good for himself.”
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Vrabel also referenced Rob Gronkowski doing the walkout with Wallen the next night. When it was brought up that Gronkowski spiked a guitar, Vrabel quipped “of course he did.”
On subjects relating more directly to his job, Vrabel appeared equally willing to provide additional context. The most striking subject was a follow-up question to comments he made following the team’s final preseason game against the Giants on Thursday night. When the subject of a report that wide receiver Ja’Lynn Polk would have season-ending surgery was brought up, Vrabel appeared irked that the information had leaked out.
“I don’t know,” he replied when asked on Thursday if he had anything to add to the report, “other than I’d like to find out where some of these [reports] come from. Some of these rats around here. We’ll figure that out.”
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When questioned about if he was trying to seriously investigate a “rat problem” of media leaks in the Patriot’s organization, Vrabel downplayed it.
“I love how you take everything I say and just run. You get all nervous. There’s rats all over the place — whether that’s inside this building, outside this building, I just love the flow of information,” Vrabel said.
“I just felt inclined, and I was pissed off because we stunk and we couldn’t do anything, so I tried to entertain you guys a little bit,” he added of the comments. “I was ready to get home and get back to Foxboro.”
So, does the Patriots’ coach think that he needs to do more to investigate the leaks?
“I don’t think we’ll have to smoke them out,” he concluded. “I just think we just want to be careful [with] the information that gets transferred to the media. And, again, we always want to do right by the Patriots and this football team. I think that’s the most important thing.”
On the topic of wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who is returning to football after suffering a torn ACL in 2024, Vrabel discussed his expectations for the 31-year-old, who New England signed as a free agent in the offseason.
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“He’s ready to go and that he helps our offense, and that he helps Drake [Maye],” Vrabel said of Diggs. “And again, I think that they’re building a connection. I think that, you know, we’ve played a lot of different receiver combinations, and I think that that’s been good. Whether that be in the red zone [Sunday] or in the two minute drive.”
“Guys are rolling in there and kind of finding a role,” Vrabel added. “I think the expectations are high for all of us. Whether that be [Stefon] Diggs or Drake or me or Kyle Williams or anybody out there. The expectation is, this is professional football. So his attitude has been good. He’s had a willingness, and I’ve decided to keep him out of those preseason games that you mentioned.”
Vrabel added that Diggs has “gotten a lot of reps” in practices, and that “he’s been able to string days together” at training camp.
“I’m just trying to get each guy what they need to be ready for the season.”
Scores and schedules:
The Red Sox lost to the Yankees 7-2 on Sunday as New York avoided the four-game sweep.
Tonight, Boston begins a new four-game series. The Red Sox will play the Orioles at Camden Yards, with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m.
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Also from over the weekend, Connecticut clinched third at the Little League World Series after defeating Aruba 4-2.
More from Boston.com:
- Chisholm and Grisham both homer twice as Yankees beat Red Sox 7-2 to avoid 4-game sweep
- Rapoport: Patriots are ‘shopping’ Kyle Dugger ahead of roster cutdown day
- NFL executive gives sobering view on expectations for 2025 Patriots
- Patriots rookie TreVeyon Henderson quickly rising on fantasy football big boards
- Tony Romo sees Patriots ‘turning around very fast’ under Mike Vrabel in 2025
- ‘I am a Patriot’: Anfernee Jennings wants to stay with New England, despite trade rumors
- Celtics guard Anfernee Simons continues to be linked in trade rumors
- 3 takeaways from the Revolution’s 2-1 win over the Columbus Crew
Sweet Caroline backstory: ESPN did an in-depth piece on the background behind “Sweet Caroline” becoming a sports staple.
On this day: In 2012, the Red Sox and Dodgers completed a blockbuster trade that helped shave more than $275 million in salary off of Boston’s books. The Red Sox sent Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto to Los Angeles in return for James Loney, Allen Webster, Ivan De Jesus, Jerry Sands and Rubby De La Rosa.
While the players received had little impact, the reshaped Red Sox roster would go on to win the World Series in 2013.
Daily highlight: One more play from Connecticut’s Little League World Series run, a diving catch in right field.
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