Mike Vrabel expands on his plan for New England Patriots, quarterback Drake Maye

FOXBORO -- Mike Vrabel has a clear vision as the new head coach of the New England Patriots. He wants everyone to check themselves at the door, and earn the right to call themselves a professional football player (or coach) each and every day.

Vrabel intends to construct a culture built on winning and a competitive spirit up and down the roster, the coaching staff, and the front office. He wants everyone in the organization to put others ahead of themselves, and help build something special in New England.

"Everyone in this building is going to understand and believe that their job is critically important for our success, and it's going to be, 'How can I help you in order to help the players?' Our players will respect, and they will appreciate, and they will be grateful for the opportunity that they have here and the people that work in this building," Vrabel explained Monday in Foxboro. "We're going to remove entitlement from our football team. We're going to get everything that we've earned from the head coach to the position coaches, all the way down to the players. We're going to earn the right to be here every single day."

Vrabel expanded on his plan for the Patriots in a 1-on-1 sit-down with WBZ-TV's Dan Roche shortly after he was introduced as the 16th head coach in Patriots franchise history on Monday.

While wins ultimately dictate the success of a franchise, Vrabel said that building relationships with everyone in the organization is paramount toward establishing a winning franchise. Those relationships are one of the many things that Vrabel loves most about coaching.

"I love the locker room, I love the games, the competitiveness. Outside of winning, I love helping contribute to making players better and help them do their jobs better," Vrabel told WBZ-TV. "Finding ways to help them do their job better."

Vrabel is hard on his players when they're on the field and in the locker room, but he also puts a priority on understanding them all as men who are trying to take care of their families. That is where his own career as a player helps the most.

"We're all in this sport, this profession of football, to provide for our families. That's what it is. If I can help them and they play better, it means they help the team and in turn, they can help their families," he added. "I'm open and honest about that, having gone through it as a player. I want to make sure they understand there's always a business side to this, and that sometimes gets in the way of the personal side. But I'm still going to stive to make those relationships and connections. At some point they're going to disagree with some things that I do, and sometimes that happens. But I don't want to let the personal side of it interfere with the business side of it."

Vrabel is an extremely hands-on coach, one that demands commitment from everyone in the organization. Everyone doesn't always have to agree with one another, but the goal must be the same: Do whatever is best for the New England Patriots.

If that means players take some digs at Vrabel or perform some unflattering imitations of him, then so be it. That's part of the process, and welcomed by the head coach.

"We may not always be on the same page, but we're fighting to be on the same page," said Vrabel. "I want to be authentic and I want to make a connection with them. I can laugh at myself. I'm willing to give myself to the team. If they rally around making fun of me in a rookie skit, I'm more than happy with it. It means they're paying attention. I like when they imitate and make fun of me, because it means they're paying attention in team meetings.

"You can see the different sides of the relationships that you have with different players. Those are important to have so when we get into tough times, you can get through it and have honest conversations," he explained. "I want them to focus on the truth. Focus on telling the truth. Seek the truth, and when they seek it, be able to handle the truth. We're going to be clear, clean, concise and correct."

Drake Maye was a big selling point for Mike Vrabel

Vrabel said there were many factors that made the New England Patriots the right fit for him and his family, and vice versa. He has a great connection and line of communication with owners Robert and Jonathan Kraft, and he had nothing but good things to say about executive VP of player personnel Eliot Wolf on Monday.

Of course the biggest selling point for Vrabel was promising young quarterback Drake Maye. The 22-year-old showed endless potential during his rookie campaign, and Vrabel intends to surround Maye with as much talent as possible to fully unlock the quarterback's capabilities.

"There is arm talent, there is ability, there is athleticism and toughness. He continued to make great decisions where at times, you felt like he had to do too much. We would never want that on a player," Vrabel said of Maye. "We want to be aggressive but we don't want to be reckless. We talked about the efficiency we want to play that position, and there is a lot that goes into it."

The Patriots had one of the worst receiving corps in the NFL in 2024, and Vrabel intends to change that this offseason. The more capable targets for Maye, the better life will be for the quarterback.

"Having players around that have a great catch radius, that are good at averse catches in the red zone, that are tough tackles that take short gains and turn them into explosive gains so you're not forcing the ball downfield every play. Those are tough things to do repeatedly in the NFL," said Vrabel.

"We want to provide him answers and support for him to continue to grow," he continued on Maye. "I'm sure that growth will be pretty quick."

Mike Vrabel is not afraid of expectations in New England

The Patriots have won just four games in each of the last two seasons and haven't been in the playoffs since 2019, so the fanbase is getting antsy. While the roster needs a serious influx of talent at nearly every position, bringing in Vrabel will only up the expectations of fans.

Vrabel made it clear on Monday that the six Super Bowl banners hanging inside Gillette Stadium won't help the team win any football games in 2025. But they are a nice reminder of what the expectations are in Foxboro, and the goal of the organization moving forward.

Vrabel isn't going to run from those lofty expectations. He's embracing them and is going to make them part of the team's DNA.

"Expectations should always bee extremely high. We are never going to hide behind high expectations," said Vrabel. "This is a competitive business; we understand and always embrace that."