With 90 minutes to go until his first preseason game as Patriots head coach, Mike Vrabel was not inside Gillette Stadium.
Instead, he was just outside the gates, gladhanding with Tom Brady’s father as his team was getting ready to unveil a six-foot statue of its legendary quarterback.
It’s not often you see a team’s head coach not within the confines of the stadium so close to kickoff. However, Vrabel made a point to at least make a brief appearance.
“It was always important to be out there. You saw the amount of people that were there to support him. ... Glad that I was able to be a part of it for a little bit,” Vrabel said.
A “little bit” is the key phrase. The ceremony to unveil Brady’s statue outside Gillette started at 6 p.m. and ran for 30 minutes. Vrabel was present at the start of the event, but quietly slipped out early on.
It may be the preseason, but Vrabel still has a team to run.
“I think it made it a little easier just because it’s a preseason game and there’s maybe probably not as much going on,” Vrabel said. “There’s still the schedule and everthing, meeting with the officials, the team, the coaches.”
Outside of Vrabel, there were no active Patriots at the Brady ceremony. To be fair, there’s virtually no crossover between New England’s current roster and Brady’s playing career. The only guy who’s shared a locker room with him is Carlton Davis – and that was in Tampa Bay.
It was a different story for the Washington Commanders. Two of Brady’s former teammates, Jonathan Jones and Deatrich Wise, slipped away from the visitors’ locker room to attend the ceremony. It didn’t appear to be a major issue, as neither veteran player suited up for the preseason opener.
Vrabel’s brief absence also went off without a hitch. The Patriots cruised to a 48-18 win in their preseason opener.
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