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‘Swag-less at times’: Mike Vrabel joked about Drake Maye, defended Will Campbell, discussed NFL trade deadline
"It hasn't even left his hand yet and everybody's like, 'Touchdown! Touchdown!' I was like [let's] hold our horses. OK, touchdown!"
Patriots coach Mike Vrabel was quick to temper expectations about his 6-2 team a day after the 32-13 win over the Browns at Gillette Stadium on Sunday.
Speaking to WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” on Monday morning, Vrabel cited starting better and red zone efficiency as areas of improvement for New England.
“We have to play the complete game,” he said, noting that the Browns’ only touchdown came on Cleveland’s opening drive. “We’re always going to find things to improve on, and so hopefully we can start a little faster and finish in the red zone. To be 2-of-6, that’s now going to win a whole lot of games. We’ve got to score touchdowns when we get down there.”
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Beyond those points, the Patriots’ head coach praised his team’s resilience.
“The plays that can help define the game aren’t going to be in the first or second series,” he explained.
Through the course of the interview, Vrabel offered thoughts on a variety of players and topics:
Drake Maye
Maye has been chided by Vrabel for the quarterback’s inability to consistently slide instead of allowing himself to be tackled. This continued on Sunday, when Vrabel joked about sending the second-year quarterback to “spring training” so he could learn better sliding technique.
He offered another humorous quote when asked about the subject on Monday.
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“I mean I don’t know,” Vrabel said regarding if he thinks Maye’s sliding has improved. “Again, he’s dead set on hurdling somebody and scoring from a 60-yard touchdown run. We’ll keep working. I’m going to get a cardboard box like we did back in the fifth grade at St. Michael’s in the Catholic Diocese Baseball League. We got a refrigerator box and we cut it open, and we taught the kids that didn’t know how to slide how to slide. So we’re going to practice sliding on a cardboard box.”
Still, Maye’s leadership and impressive start to the season has begun to draw interest from the rest of the NFL. Through eight games, Maye has thrown for 2,026 yards with 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions. His completion percentage (75.2) leads the league.
The 23-year-old now holds the third best odds to win MVP.
“Well we’ve got the midseason awards coming up here, it’s about that time,” an unimpressed Vrabel replied when asked about the discussion of Maye as MVP. “You should be throwing all those around here, we’ll be lined up to accept all of those that they try to give us.
“But I think that he’s a very, very important part of our success, and I’m happy that he’s having personal success,” the Patriots’ coach added of Maye. “He wants to continue to improve, and I think that there’s a hunger for that. I think he sees — not only performance, but just the way that he operates and functions — how important that is to the offense and to our football team.”
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Two of Maye’s greatest weapons in the 2025 season have been his consistent ability to turn broken plays into big gains, and to throw the ball deep at a high percentage.
“His accuracy down the field is fun,” Vrabel admitted. “You just don’t want to take things for granted, but it’s like you know it’s going to be [a pass] to [Kayshon] Boutte and it hasn’t even left his hand yet and everybody’s like, ‘Touchdown! Touchdown!’ I was like [let’s] hold our horses. OK, touchdown!”
Will Campbell
One player who did not thrive on Sunday was rookie left tackle Will Campbell. As the fourth overall pick from the 2025 draft, Campbell was brought to New England to anchor a struggling offensive line.
While he has helped the line make solid strides through eight games, Sunday was a difficult test against All-Pro Myles Garrett. Garrett finished the day with five sacks (though not all came against Campbell).
Vrabel candidly addressed Campbell’s tough day at the office.
“I mean that’s a tough task, and that’s a tough challenge,” Vrabel said of facing Garrett. “I think Will has high expectations of himself and wants to do well, and some of these challenges in this league are difficult, and playing Myles Garrett is one of those.
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“There were plays that he’d like to have back,” Vrabel acknowledged, “and being able to understand that each and every week those match-ups change, and the play-styles change. So he’ll continue to improve, and he’ll continue to work. He’s been a consistent, available player for us, a he’s helped us win here in the last couple of weeks.”
Christian Barmore
Defensive tackle Christian Barmore was a conspicuous absence from the Patriots’ lineup during the first quarter on Sunday. Vrabel said in his postgame press conference that the move was his decision (with Barmore playing the other three quarters of the win).
“When there are actions that I don’t feel like are commensurate with what we want to do here, I have to make a decision,” Vrabel said on Sunday of Barmore.
Asked on Monday if Barmore’s implied infraction is now in the past, he concurred.
“Just like everything else that I do, whether that’s in life, or whatever. We’ve moved on, we’ve addressed it, and there are no issues moving forward with me or with anybody else,” Vrabel responded. “I just think that’s how we have to operate, and I’m excited to get going here today with corrections and get these guys moving on to the Falcons.”
Individual player introductions
A new update to the Patriots’ pregame routine was on display Sunday, with New England opting for individual player introductions for offensive starters. It ended a near-quarter-century run of team introductions, dating back to a Bill Belichick tradition.
“I approached it with the leadership guys on Thursday after practice a few weeks ago, just looking to try to bring some energy,” Vrabel said of the new format. “We were kind of on the road and I was just looking ahead and saying, ‘Hey is this something we want to try?’ They were in favor of it, and so we kind of tried to figure it out. We’ll have to continue to work on it like everything else we do, and improve it and make it as good of a product as we can to introduce our players and get the fans excited about it.”
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When reminded of Maye’s postgame comments — the New England QB joked that he has “literally no swag” — Vrabel was quick to agree.
“I would say that it’s probably swag-less at times,” Vrabel joked of Maye’s style. “But that’s why we love him.”
“I swear a lot more than he does,” the Patriots’ coach added, a clear contrast with his quarterback’s cleaner vocabulary.
Myles Garrett
On the subject of Garrett, Cleveland’s dominant defensive end, Vrabel was effusive with praise.
“God gave him a little extra,” he said of Garrett. “I mean he’s big, he’s fast, he’s explosive, he’s athletic. You know, [he can go] around you, through you, spin. He just has a great skillset, and then also an understanding that he is able to bend and dip and take long strides, planting, rarely gets knocked off his feet.
“But the ability to beat double-teams, and beat these chippers that he sees, it’s impressive,” Vrabel continued. “I was saying yesterday, ‘Thank God they’re not in the division and we don’t have to see him twice unless we both make the playoffs.’ He’s a special player. He’s been doing it for a lot of years. They don’t make too many of him though.”
Trade deadline
The NFL trade deadline is set for 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 4. The division-leading Patriots seem on course to be buyers for the first time in years.
Exactly what that means — and if New England has any intent to make serious additions — remains to be seen.
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Vrabel was asked if he separates himself from trade evaluations. He provided a glimpse into the Patriots’ current brain trust, citing executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf, vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden, as well as vice president of football operations and strategy John Streicher.
“I would say that Eliot and Ryan and myself and [Streicher] have conversations every day regarding the roster,” Vrabel explained. “Whether that’s before the trade deadline, after the trade deadline, those conversations are ongoing.”
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