Good morning. Here are your Patriots news 5-18 and notes for this week. We’ll look at the schedule further below, but first… The Patriots released the first episode of their documentary series Forged in Foxboroughon Friday. Titled“Building the Patriots,” it takes a behind-the-scenes look at the team’s offseason leading up to the NFL Draft.
This is a “must-watch” TV show for Patriots fans, especially for those who want to wash away the bad taste of the last few seasons. The show moves quickly and gives the viewer the point of view of being in the room while all this is happening, not as a television viewer but as a participant, which is good.
Not only that, the content is superb. Mike Vrabel is the focus of Episode 1. He’s everywhere, talking with the press (getting Karen Guregian on the show, along with Duece, and Paul Perillo was a plus), and greeting free agents and their families.
It also extensively focuses on Eliot Wolf during the show’s Combine and NFL Draft segments. It shows Wolf, Ryan Cowden, and Vrabel interacting well and how Vrabel trusts the two’s judgement. Wolf was working the phones during the Draft. For those who thought that Wolf would be let go after the Draft, think again. Given his involvement with everything, and the fact that the team just hired A.J. Highsmith, Alonzo Highsmith’s son and Wolf’s right-hand man, as the Director for Pro Scouting, should tell you he isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon.
I really liked the NFL Draft segment because we never get to see inside the draft room except for short snippets. This was the most in-depth look we had
The show starts with new head coach Mike Vrabel giving a welcome speech to his team and laying out his vision. Preaching themes of togetherness and connection, where he had Caedan Wallace to help illustrate them, Vrabel explained his goal of bringing the AFC East title back to One Patriot Place.
“*We are going to be along on his f$$$ing journey with you guys. You understand that? And I don’t care what’s happened or how you’ve been coached. This is how I want to do it. Be along for the journey,*” Vrabel said.
“That’s our whole goal of how we’re going to operate this program. We’re going to be along on the journey. There are going to be some ups and downs, but that’s the whole goal of what we’re trying to do: going along on this journey with you guys to get more out of you than what you guys think.” That’s a great way to start the series off on the right foot.
Vrabel used the words “respect” and “trust” a lot. He expects it from his players, and he’s giving it back in spades by his actions. I especially liked how he told the draftees to thank the people who got them to this point.
If this is going to be the norm for the episodes, then it will have fans and media glued to their devices waiting for the next episode to drop. Kudos to the team for putting this together. Excitement is back in the building.
Quick Hitters For the Patriots and NFL News:
**Trayveon Williams:**The Patriots signed special-teamer Williams this week after a brief tryout with the team. Williams spent the first six years of his NFL career with the Bengals. Last year, he didn’t log a snap as a running back but he will probably see many in training camp since the depth there needs help.
He has returned kicks for the Bengals, 33 for 743 yards in his career. In a corresponding move, the Patriots released DT Eric Johnson II.
**Christian Barmore:**The Patriots’ DT got some great news this week. After suffering from blood clots and returning symptoms last year, he’s been the green light to resume football activities. And he has a bunch of respect for head coach Mike Vrabel.
“Mike Vrabel is a guy that I can talk to,” Barmore told the media. “Every time I talk to him, he’s there for me. A guy that I really respect…he picked me up, and I really respect that.”
Barmore and new DT Milton Williams have had a friendly competition thus far on who gets to the facility, meeting rooms, weight room first.
“That’s my guy,” Barmore said of Williams. “We see who’s the first one in the weight room. Who is the first one in the meeting room. We’ve been always going at it,” Barmore added. “He makes me work hard. He’s a hell of a worker, hell of a guy, hell of a player.”
The duo should give the Patriots a dynamic pair of penetrating pieces in the middle of the defensive line with the new aggressive, attacking scheme of Terrell Williams and Mike Vrabel.
**Rested Teams?**There wasan intriguing poston “X” about teams with the most and least rest in 2025. The Patriots fall right in the middle with a +2.
Patriots No Huddle Podcast: Derek, Mike D’Abate, and I discussed the Patriots’ schedule with Mike Dussault onYouTube,Apple, orSpotify. And please leave us a review. This week, we’ll welcome the Boston Globe’sChris Priceto talk about the team and how everything is going at this point.
**Kyle Williams:**Speaking of formerPatsFans.com alum Chris Price, he wrote a nice piece on rookie wide receiver Kyle Williams this week. Price asks the question, can Williams begin to turn the tide of failed WRs that the Patriots have taken in the draft? He certainly has the tools to succeed. We’ll see
Russ Francis/Chuck Fairbanks: The former Patriot tight end and head coach should be in the Patriots team Hall of Fame, and the fact that Francis isn’t is an absolute travesty. Francis and the Raiders’ Dave Casper changed how teams used the tight end position. This will be displayed in our Sunday posts until it happens. Casper is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Francis’ numbers stand up well against Casper’s, yet he isn’t even in the team’s HOF.
A Look At The Patriots’ 2025 Schedule:
The Patriots’ preseason starts at home against Washington on August 8. The final two games are on the road: at Minnesota on August 16 and against the New York Giants at the Meadowlands on August 21.
There will be opportunities for preseason joint practices with the Commanders at Gillette and away with the Vikings. Hopefully, they can make this work, as those are great for getting all 90 players some work in against some quality opponents.
Finishing off the preseason with the Giants, whom they’ll meet in December, brings back the tradition of the two teams finishing off their respective preseasons.
Weeks 1-4:
The Patriots play three out of four games to begin the season at home. They start with the Raiders on Sept. 7, which will throw new LT Will Campbell right into the fire against Maxx Crosby. That should be a matchup to monitor.
Then the team travels to Miami for a mid-September match with the Dolphins, which has been a tough place for the Patriots to play since the mid-1960s. The heat will probably be oppressive…Hydrate up guys.
Then, in Weeks 3 and 4, the team returns home to face Pittsburgh and Carolina. I wonder if Aaron Rodgers will have made up his mind by then if he wants to play for the Steelers.
If I were Pittsburgh, I’d tell him to go pound sand, but that’s just my opinion. The Patriots have done well against Pittsburgh, even in the years they’ve struggled. They have a chance to start the season really well.
Weeks 5-8:
Now comes a really tough part of the schedule: three straight road games against Buffalo, New Orleans, and Tennessee before returning home on October 26 to face the Browns and probably Shedeur Sanders.
Playing the Bills in Buffalo is a tough matchup. But it will be an early litmus test to see how they stack up with the Bills, who have owned the division for the past five years.
ESPN’sMike Reissasked NFL VP of Broadcasting Planning Mike North if there was any thought of moving the Patriots-Titans game into prime time since it was Vrabel returning to Tennessee.
North said it was considered but the league decided to pass on it. Reiss also asked North about the Patriots late (Week 14) bye. Some interesting comments.
I know most fans have penciled in the Titans game as a win. But not so fast. Did you know that since the NFL went to a 17-game schedule, the teams entering the third straight road game straight up are 8-17?
Adam Chernoff posted on “X” that, “Three straights still matter. Teams in their third straight home game are 36-19 (65.5%) and teams in their third straight road game are 8-17 (32%) straight up since the schedule expanded to 17 games.”
The Saints’ QB situation is still up in the air but that is always a tough place to play. And I would expect by then, that Sanders will be the starting QB for the Browns, unless Joe Flacco continues his Fountain of Youth march. Some winnable games in this segment of the season. But, those three straight away games? That’s rough.
However, if they are going to win eight, nine, or even ten games, as some are predicting. They’re must win three out of these four. The same with the early season schedule.
Weeks 9-13:
The Patriots remain home against Atlanta, travel to Tampa Bay, return home against the Jets, and finish off Week 12 on the road at Cincinnati and then back home against the Giants. This will be an intriguing stretch. Playing at Tampa Bay and Cincinnati will be tough matchups. The Bucs are very tough at home, and at that point in the season, that’s when Cincinnati usually gets hot at the end of the year.
We don’t know enough yet about where Atlanta and the Jets are yet, but those two games are at least at home in Gillette Stadium. The Patriots begin December at home against the Giants.
Bye Week 14:
Weeks 15-18:
The Patriots final quarter of the season starts with big games against the Bills at home, and the Ravens on the road. That should tell us what we need to know about where the team stands in their rebuilding phase. Then they play the Jets on the road which is always a tough game and welcome in 2026 at home against Miami.
Hopefully, they will figure out Tua this season. Miami is so-so against the rest of the league, but in the past few years, they’ve owned New England. Time for that to change.
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“I think it’s critical. I think the amount of field position that changes hands and the kickoff and how critical that return phase is going to be and the ability to get the ball and understand after the adjustments that were made in the rules.
“How we limit penalties. When you talk about the impact that penalties make on the return phase, how critical those are, the lost yardages. You can create momentum. You could maintain momentum, you can maintain momentum. Being able to flip the field when we have to punt.
“We’ve worked on punts so much. I told them the other day, ‘I hope we don’t have to punt that much, but if we do, I think we’re ready for it just from how much we’ve worked at it and how much they’ve improved in the first installation with the veteran players.
“Special teams is how I made it in the first four years of my career. It’s certainly something that I can appreciate and explain to the players how critical that is for most of these rookies outside of the alignment, it’ll be their easiest way to a role on this football team.”
Patriots Head Coach Mike Vrabel on establishing a culture, and setting a tone for your football team with special teams and how important that phase of the game is.
“We’ll find out. I think that just the draft grades and all that, like, who really knows? I mean, that stuff is, like we always say, it’s interesting, but I don’t think that’s very important.
“What’s important is how they continue to build a role on this football team and how they get acclimated to what we’re trying to do in the program. So I think it’s a great group that seems responsible, that all handle the communication about getting here and the hotel.
“There hasn’t been any issues, and not that we expect any, I’m just saying that these guys are off to a good start just as far as the professionalism that we expect, and then we’ll coach them up from what we see on the field.“
Vrabel on what his early impressions are of the rookie class that he’s seen so far.
“I think it was in Three Rivers Stadium. It was in the outfield of Three Rivers Stadium, and they laid down two plastic stripes in the outfield, and that’s about what we had. I remember that.
“I think I was #96 at the time. I think I probably wore four numbers at Pittsburgh. So when guys make a big deal about numbers, I’m like, ‘I think I had four of them in the first four years of my career.’
*“I don’t remember a whole bunch. I don’t. Other than being in the outfield of Three Rivers Stadium and having to be off the field at a certain time because there was batting practice that was starting.*“
Vrabel on what he remembers of his first rookie training camp with the Steelers.
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“Somebody asked me what success looks like, and I said, ‘Yeah, you can judge it by wins and losses during the season, but success for me in the offseason is going to be that the players believe in what we’re doing, and they believe in the message, they believe in the teaching, and they believe in the connections that we’re making.’” — Mike Vrabel
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About Steve Balestrieri
A former US Army Special Forces NCO and Officer, Steve has been following the Patriots since their days at Fenway Park. Steve has worked in the film industry and wrote as an Military Editor at SpecialOperations.com, 1945.com as a reporter for the Millbury Daily Voice, Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, and the Grafton News. He's also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA)
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Tags: Buffalo Bills Eliot Wolf Miami Dolphins Mike Vrabel New England Patriots New York Jets Patriots
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