The New England Patriots have brought aboard quite a few familiar faces this offseason, and for good reason.
Mike Vrabel values relationships.
Vrabel’s insistence on bringing in people he is familiar with stretches back to his first days on the job, when he started his tenure by hiring offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and defensive coordinator Terrell Williams.
The Patriots obviously continued that trend when building out the remainder of their staff, but it has also stretched into the roster-building portion of the offseason. New England isn’t adding very many players who don’t have prior experience with the staff, which was made abundantly clear on Thursday.
“I don’t know how you could do free agency any differently,” Vrabel said at the introductory press conference of Morgan Moses, Robert Spillane, Milton Williams and Carlton Davis, per team-provided video. “I really don’t… It’s important to me — and (Patriots owner Robert Kraft trusted executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf) and myself to bring the right people onto this football team. If we have coaches that trust and believe in players, we have to take that into consideration… I think that’s critical.
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“We have to evaluate the tape, then it’s about the person… I’ve seen from these players that they aren’t going to go anywhere, and the other ones we bring in and the others that are in the locker room right now, they’re resilient and they’re not going to back down. It really helps when you know somebody, or you’ve coached them, or a trusted personnel member has been with that player. It’s important.”
Moses, Spillane and Davis all have prior experience working with members of the current coaching staff at One Patriot Place. Moses was with wide receivers coach Todd Downing last season with the New York Jets. Spillane played for both Vrabel and McDaniels during their prior tenures as head coach of the Tennessee Titans and Las Vegas Raiders, respectively. Davis was with Williams last season as members of the Detroit Lions.
Williams is the only guy who didn’t match that description, though his production dispelled the need for prior experience.
Vrabel has an obvious way he likes to do things, which seemingly has already created a close-knit nature with players and coaches alike. It’s a change from what we’ve previously seen in New England, but that might not be such a bad thing considering recent seasons.
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