After New England's Week 2 preseason game, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel explained that he hasn't been playing key starters in the preseason because "I do not think we have a very deep team."
In a Monday morning appearance on WEEI's The Greg Hill Show, Vrabel was asked to elaborate on his remarks.
Was it, Vrabel was asked, a shot at the front office?
“We are the front office," Vrabel replied, via Mike Reiss of ESPN. "We are all making the decisions. We’re all included in this. It was about the young guys we have to develop. You can see that the players we kept out of the game, those are the guys. And we have to be able to find some guys behind them to be backups, to be the first guy in. To be the third outside linebacker. Be the third inside linebacker. Be the sixth offensive lineman. These things that are so critical. Be the third safety.
“So those are the things that we are trying to develop, and I guess that’s what I was referencing. I can walk back, and I’ve already talked to [executive V.P. of player personnel] Eliot [Wolf] this morning, and these aren’t issues. I’m not in a subtle context — that wasn’t that. They asked why we didn’t play the guys, and [the answer is] we have to have everybody we have available and then continue to develop and see some guys that went out and played like they did on Saturday night to continue to build that depth.”
So why is there an issue with depth?
“Well, I think that when you look at how you want to be constructed, we have to continue to draft very well," Vrabel said. "We have to continue to develop those late-round picks, the guys that we can find that can be interior offensive linemen, that can be special teams linebackers, which is what we’re hoping when you look at Nam[di Obiazor] and Khalil [Jacobs]. Drafted some edge guys that you can develop and that maybe haven’t played necessarily this 3-4 defense in the past but that you’re developing.
"That’s just kind of where we were constructed and I think we can always work to improve that. You just know that through the course of the season you’re going to need so many of those guys just because things are going to happen and we have to be ready to play games without those front-line guys. That’s on us to be able to get these guys ready to go.”
If anything, Vrabel's comments weren't a shot at the current front office (which he necessarily influences) but a reflection of the empty cupboard of talent he inherited in the aftermath of the final years of the Belichick regime. At a deeper level, Vrabel's sensitivity to the issue of depth could be a hint at the push-and-pull that's currently happening in the negotiations with cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
In the first wave of the New England dynasty, the Patriots were able to parlay low-dollar starter contracts into a robust collection of backups whom the Patriots could pay better money than they could have gotten elsewhere. With Gonzalez clearly wanting something more than a mild bump over the new market high set by Seahawks cornerback Devon Witherspoon nine days ago ($33 million per year in new-money APY), the Patriots could be arguing aggressively to Gonzalez's agents that, if they pay too much to the star players, it will impact significantly the cap space they'll have for veteran backups who can supply that depth.
Given that MVP runner-up Drake Maye is a season away from his second deal, it's a point about which the Patriots are likely currently obsessing. Between giving a massive contract to Gonzalez and, next year, to Maye, they'll need to rely even more heavily on understudies who are being paid under the much cheaper slotted rookie deal.
Unless they can persuade Gonzalez and Maye to not insist on breaking the bank and, in turn, handcuffing the ability of the team to have a complement of backups that include veterans who can be lured to New England for a little more money than they'd get elsewhere.
Leave a Comment