Patriots HC Mike Vrabel Transcript 10/10
PATRIOTS HEAD COACH MIKE VRABEL
PRESS CONFERENCE
October 10, 2025
MV: Out for the game will be Anfernee Jennings, Keion White, Jaylinn Hawkins and Antonio Gibson. Questionable will be. Christian Gonzalez, [Marte] Mapu and Charles Woods.
Q: Can you clarify – Christian wasn’t on the injury report last week. Did he suffer some kind of a setback?
MV: Christian will be questionable for the game. We’ll continue to monitor him and see where that goes. We’ll try to make a decision at 10:30 a.m. Central Time, 90 minutes before the game. That’s where we’re at and we’ll have to have a plan if he doesn’t go, and we’ll have a plan if he does go. Just like everybody else.
Q: Was he a full participant today?
MV: I don’t know the particulars. I just write down the designation. The participation will be out shortly. I don’t want to misspeak. I just give you the designation for the game. I don’t want to say limited or full and have it not be one of those two.
Q: So, is that workload for him more Jim Whalen’s department? How much of that decision is on your plate – limited versus full.
MV: It’s on my plate. But how it goes in. There’s different tempos on a Friday. We’ve got some speed periods. And some jog through periods. And so, by the rules, I would say that by the letter of the law, you have to list – if it’s every single thing and every single rep, then it’s full. So, maybe he took one less than he took last Friday. I don’t know. I’m not trying to be funny here. We’re going to monitor and see how he feels, and if he’s feels good to go and confident – which I hope that he is – then then he’s going to play in the game. But I just don’t want to say he was limited or he was full, and then you guys would be like, “Well, you were not speaking truthfully.”
Q: Is there a reason why you didn’t put Antonio on IR yet? Is that procedural?
MV: Yeah, that’s procedural.
Q: How would you assess your safety depth?
MV: We have four of them now. We went from five to four.
Q: How do you feel about the group?
MV: Good. I think they’re prepared. I think they’re ready to go. They’ve all been practicing, preparing and feel good about any of those guys. From Dell [Pettus] playing or School [Brenden Schooler] playing, those guys are working hard. We’ve got some guys that have improved through the show team. I really like the way that we’ve practiced on Thursdays. I know we don’t have thigh pads or knee pads in Mike [Reiss], but those have been physical, fast practices and guys have improved. And that’s what I’m proud of. Our linemen have improved, our young linemen, our practice squad linemen. And so those guys are getting – we want to try to make it as similar as possible. Just talking to Alex Austin about, “Hey, this is the technique. Just put it in our terms. I don’t care what the card says. Just do it like this and go play in practice.”
Q: I’m glad there’s no thigh pads because you can’t cut in practice.
MV: Well, you can’t cut in the game outside the tackle box, too. So, we never want to do that. We never want to do that, especially in practice. It’s hard to cut. It’s hard to cut these days. It takes a skilled player to do that in a box. A center, D-linemen are hard to cut these days. Just the way they’re athletic, their length. Sometimes you just end up belly flopping. And so, really, that’s a hard block. And Will [Campbell]’s done a decent job out there on the edge sometimes. But other than that, it’s just not in the game as much as it used to be.
Q: I don’t know how much of these decisions were made, but is a running back or outside linebacker coming off the practice squad this week?
MV: Yeah, we’ll have to bring up a couple guys. We’ll release that here this afternoon.
Q: Mike, on a week like this where you kind of know you have a few names on the injury report, does the workload for the show team change at all? Do you change the way you manage the show team knowing that they might have to go on Sunday?
MV: Well, they’re going to get reps, and everybody has to be available to work those show teams. We look out there, and there’s guys that play for us on defense that are given a look. There’s guys on offense that are giving us a look. And we appreciate that. So, it’s going to be all hands on deck. And then the guys, potentially, on the practice squad will get reps and work with the offense or defense.
Q: You mentioned Brenden Schooler getting some reps on defense. What was it about his skill set that you liked in that role? Was that a game plan thing, or could you see him taking on more responsibilities?
MV: Well, that was probably a game plan thing, and then we’ll see where it goes this week as it relates to normal downs and distances. But he’s long, he can run, he’s a good tackler And he has a great play style.
Q: Mike, how is Bradyn Swinson doing on the show team?
MV: Improving. I know Smitty [Mike Smith] talked about him, and I think he’s really tried to take the last, call it five or six weeks, and really just understand what the demands are for this level and this league is about taking care of your body, training and continuing to develop as a young player, and just all the other little details. And then practicing hard, working and developing as a fourth down player as well, trying to practice that.
Q: You said that Vederian Lowe kind of served as a sixth offensive lineman at times with the jungle personnel. What are you seeing from him, and do you feel that’s something you’re going to continue kind of utilizing this season?
MV: Yeah, we’ll see how it goes in the game plan. But the further you get out there, away from the football, little things come up. He’s done a nice job for us, whether that be on the goal line or a different situation. So, he worked hard. He didn’t have much of an offseason, and he worked hard to get back, work in training camp, get into the games and allow him to be evaluated. So, I felt like he’s done a good job. He’s done everything that we’ve asked him to do.
Q: When it comes to the kickoff returns, Rhamondre [Stevenson] replacing Gibby [Antonio Gibson] there, is that an expectation still?
MV: We’ll see where it goes on Sunday. We’ve got guys that have all worked back there. Again, we just try to have to get something out of that unit. But Rhamondre can fill in and some different skill players.
Q: Mike, at least by success rate in yards per play, your blitz effectiveness has gotten better each of the last four weeks. Do you see any commonalities there? What’s driving that?
MV: Maybe it’s just too soon to tell as far as just the numbers. A lot of it is the timing and situational. A lot of times it’s who you send. It’s not so much the blitz, it’s the blitzee, who’s going and who’s impacting. I think we want to just pick and choose our spots, and try to improve our disguise and all those different things that we can do when we send somebody.
Q: How has Truman Jones developed behind the scenes?
MV: I’m not supposed to have favorites, but I would say that Truman’s close to the list if I had one. He’s an extremely hard worker. I would say that every time we have a show player of the week on the [defense] or special teams, I would say that he’s probably been one of those two, if not both, throughout the year. He’s done a nice job. He prepares as a starter each and every week. I just think he’s continuing to develop, and we would be comfortable if we had to play him.
Q: I imagine your fondest memory of the Superdome is probably February of 2002, but anything else about that building stand out for you either as a coach or a player?
MV: I thought a really, really special moment for me was a few years ago on opening day we were able to get Tim Shaw down from Tennessee, who’s a former player, with Steve Gleason, a former player, and both of them fighting an awful, terrible disease of ALS. Just seeing what those two players were, what they looked like and how that deteriorated their body, I got to see that frequently with Tim coming into our building and being around. It was really cool to have them down there for that game. I think we’ll always remember Steve blocking that punt after Katrina, just watching on TV, getting chills and the reaction from the fans. They’re passionate fans down there. It’s fun to go down there and see their family, their culture and how they support that football team. That was something that we came up with, Dennis Allen was great about it and having those guys be an honorary captain for that game. Outside of the Super Bowl, that was cool. Unfortunately, we lost the game, but it was two great players that are now fighting a disease.
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