What Mike Vrabel said about his plan for developing Drake Maye

Patriots

“Drake is going to be his own person, but I’m going to give him some things that I feel like are necessary to help us win football games.”

The opportunity to work with a young, talented quarterback was one of the factors that led Mike Vrabel back to New England.

Vrabel interviewed for other head coaching jobs, but he picked the Patriots. He had a lot of success as a player in New England, so it was a bit of a homecoming. He’s familiar with the ownership group. And now, he’ll have the opportunity to help Drake Maye live up to his potential.

The new Patriots coach was asked on Monday how he plans to develop Maye.

“Put great people around him,” Vrabel said. “We have to. I would say that my involvement will be as it relates to game management and situational awareness and where we are on the football field and trying to develop him as a leader of the offense.”

“When a quarterback, when they call the play, you want to say everybody’s going to believe that it’s going to score a touchdown … Drake is going to be his own person, but I’m going to give him some things that I feel like are necessary to help us win football games. “

Upgrading the offensive line will among the top priorities for New England this offseason. Maye and Jacoby Brissett endured a combined 52 sacks last season.

 “I think that player acquisition, I think you look at what’s available in free agency and what you can — feel like you can sign and then see where you come out of that,” Vrabel said. “Certainly, you look at the teams that are able to protect the quarterback and dictate the flow of the game offensively, making sure that up front we’re sound, we’re strong, whether that’s through free agency or the draft, that’s something that’s critical.”

“The D-linemen, they’re getting better every year,” he added. “They’re getting more disruptive. They’re getting bigger, more powerful. So as they try to disrupt our quarterback, we have to have some things that counterbalance that.”

Maye will also need weapons to throw to. None of the Patriots’ receivers topped 700 yards last season. Hunter Henry has been a reliable target at tight end. DeMario Douglas and Kayshon Boutte have showed flashes of potential. But, as a whole, the unit wasn’t very productive last season.

Changing personnel will only be part of the solution, Vrabel said. He said he plans to implement an aggressive, but not reckless style.

“Obviously personnel is the first way,” he said. “And then scheme and style and tempo and cadence and all those things that, if our players can handle it, then we’ll shift, we’ll motion, we’ll go with different cadences, we’ll go on the ball and try to do all those things that cause conflict.

“But it’s going to not be at the expense of the players. If the players can only handle a certain amount, then that’s what we’re going to do, and we’re going to get really good at it.”

Offensive coordinators play a leading role in shaping the offensive scheme and style of a football team. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said that Josh McDaniels could be a prime candidate to join Vrabel’s staff. The Athletic also listed McDaniels, along with Nick Caley, Josh McCown, Tim Kelly, Charles London, and Tommy Rees as top candidates. The Patriots have yet to say whether or not Alex Van Pelt will stay on.

McDaniels won six Super Bowls as an assistant under Bill Belichick and left the Patriots twice to pursue head coaching opportunities elsewhere.

Caley, a former Patriots tight-ends coach who works for the Rams in the same capacity, interviewed for the opening last year.

McCown, a former NFL quarterback and current Vikings quarterbacks coach, worked with Maye when Maye was in high school and Maye said he is close friends with McCown’s two sons.

Kelly and London worked with Vrabel in Tennessee. Kelly, now a tight-ends coach with the Giants, was the Titans’ offensive coordinator in 2023. London was the pass-game coordinator that season.

Vrabel said he’s looking for efficiency, versatility, and creativity in his offense.

“We have to be a very efficient passing football team,” Vrabel said. “When you look at statistically what wins in the National Football League, our ability to affect the other team’s quarterback and our ability to provide for an efficient quarterback and passing game is a high contributor to success.

“There’s a lot of ways to do that — by protecting the middle of the pocket and all those things that we’re going to talk about as we move forward,” he added. “But how we protect the football, how we’re aggressive but not reckless, understanding where we are in the game and the situational awareness that I feel like I’ve developed over six years and then my past year in Cleveland.”`