“I want to galvanize this team, this building, and our fans,” first-year New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel had clearly stated a few days after his hiring. And if we are to believe what we are seeing, he’s already started to. Take Will Campbell’s pre-draft visit, for instance. The head coach didn’t just watch tape; he threw on a blocking pad and told Campbell to punch him during their final interview. The former LSU tackle obliged and knocked him straight to the turf. “Yeah, I got him. I’m not going to lie, I got him on the ground,” Campbell had said back then.
Vrabel, on the other hand, had laughed it off, saying, “He caught me pretty good on the second snap.“ While the method was certainly interesting, looks like that mindset hasn’t changed much during the Patriots OTAs. Just ask Christian Elliss, who has been watching his head coach line up in full chest protection running linebacker and special teams drills throughout their offseason program. “He has a pad on and he’s running drills with us,” Ellis confirmed. Vrabel’s purpose? To give a strong team to second-year quarterback Drake Maye after last year’s offensive line woes. But, in return, Maye will also have to give something back to his team.
As per a report by ESPN‘s Mike Reiss on June 7, “The Patriots are hoping that quarterback Drake Maye evolves into more of a leader in his second NFL season.” To ensure the same, the coach even implemented a specific drill for his signal caller…
As per the report, the organized team activity seemingly thrust the 22-year-old “into the spotlight in adverse situations that test all players’ physical and mental toughness.” And here’s how it worked out: “At the end of the most recent practice open to reporters, Vrabel lined up the entire offense along the goal line, with Maye in the middle, and implored Maye to decisively call out the cadence before everyone ran a sprint on the correct snap count. Once … twice … three times … and they kept sprinting after that.” At one point, Mike Vrabel even asked Maye to call a “dummy” snap count, just to check if any players were jumping early.
#Patriots HC Mike Vrabel is running drills that thrust QB Drake Maye “into the spotlight in adverse situations that test all players’ physical and mental toughness,” per @MikeReiss.
One drill requires Maye to loudly call a snap count that signals when the whole team must sprint. pic.twitter.com/6wPLD8lcC2
— Carlos A. Lopez (@LosTalksPats) June 8, 2025
This comes barely two weeks after the coach said he noticed a great improvement in his QB. Unfortunately, the same thing couldn’t have been said looking at Maye’s rough start in the OTAs.
Drake Maye’s bounce-back from four interceptions
Ahead of the Patriots’ OTAs a few weeks ago, Drake Maye was at the center of attention, coming off of 2,276 yards, at a completion rate of 66.6 with 15 touchdowns, with an unsatisfactory 3-9 record in 12 starts. Now add to that the OTAs and things weren’t looking too good.
During the team’s first period of 11-on-11 drills, the QB threw two interceptions. The first one was picked up by safety Dell Pettus, while Christian Gonzalez grabbed another. But that wasn’t all. During his second period of 11-on-11s, Maye threw another set of a couple of picks. Ultimately, he threw more interceptions in just two 11-on-11 series than he did in his last offseason combined.
The silver lining? As the OTAs progressed, Maye’s performance improved over time. The QB bounced back and didn’t throw an interception in the next practice session. To spice things up, Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal also admitted that he saw a big change in Drake Maye. “The big change for me was just like how comfortable and calm he (Maye) was in this practice, and like you didn’t even really notice the hitch or anything like that,” Bedard noted.
Right now, Vrabel says the focus is on getting Maye, along with the rest of the roster, comfortable in a new system ahead of mandatory minicamp. “I think everybody’s worked extremely hard, including Drake, to pick up what we want to do offensively and defensively,” Vrabel said. “Now that has to start to translate onto the practice field in a spring setting, without pads, and I think that we’re off to a good start. We had a positive day. We were able to mix some speed stuff in and competitive stuff to a point.”
Long story short: With Mike Vrabel participating in practice sessions alongside his players, and Drake Maye trying to improve ahead of his second season, things are bound to get better. Don’t you agree?
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