Mike Vrabel's Plan to Build His Team From the Trenches-Out is Coming Together

Eric Canha. Shutterstock Images.

“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. …

“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.”

--Mike Vrabel, at his introductory press conference.

There's no need for a big windup here before I deliver this pitch. The Patriots have been atrocious on the offensive and defensive lines the past couple of years. Due to a combination of bad personnel moves and neglect (but I repeat myself), they had arguably the worst offensive line and the worst pass rush in the NFL in 2024. Among other issues. So the Starfleet Command-like Prime Directive was that they address those units first, as Vrabel made it clear from the first time he stood behind the podium. 

Given that we're only 11.76% of the way through the season, it's hard to make definitive statements about many things. I mean, I could point out that the 30th offense and 32nd passing attack in football last year is now 14th and 9th, respectively. That they are one of only nine teams with a passer rating over 100.0, after finishing 24th in 2024. But you could counter that they've only played two games and one was against a Miami team whose entire coaching staff is updating their resumes. And frankly I'm sick of fighting with a contrarian voice I just made up in my head so I won't argue with you.

What I will say definitively though, is the trenches that Vrabel spoke so passionately about improving have, in fact, been addressed. Even after just eight quarters of football, the upgrade to both sides of the ball are self-evident. 

Let's start with the offensive line. And the guy they used their second highest draft pick in 32 years on to anchor it. Simply put, Will Campbell is good at blocking:

Pro Football Focus (paywall) has him graded as the 10th best rookie in the Class of '25, regardless of position:

Campbell played 31 pass-blocking snaps against the Dolphins and did not give up a single pressure, earning an 81.3 PFF pass-blocking grade for his efforts. He was less effective in run blocking, however, recording a 4.2% impact rate across 24 snaps (down from 26.7% in Week 1).

Campbell now owns a 65.7 PFF run-blocking grade through two games. Most of his snaps have come in gap schemes (23), where he has recorded a 69.6 PFF run-blocking grade. Campbell holds the 10th-best PFF pass-blocking grade (77.7, first among rookies), and his 4.8% allowed pressure rate ranks fourth among rookie tackles.

And Campbell is getting more than an adequate amount of help from the 95th pick, Jared Wilson. Between Campbell's supposedly stubby little baby arms that had people thinking he'd look like a doll Sid from Toy Story made out of scraps of other dolls and the general panic over having two rookies on Drake Maye's left side, they have combined to play better than any tandem we've seen here since we had Trent Brown and Joe Thuney on the blind side in 2018. 

As far as the veterans, let's start in the middle, with Garrett Bradbury, who was supposedly going to take Wilson's center job away from him. Instead, his signing solved the center and left guard problems:

Again according to PFF, Bradbury not only grades out as the best pass protector among centers, he's 3rd among all O-lineman in the league, behind only Kolton Miller and Joe Alt. 

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Morgan Moses is battling foot issues. And Sunday in Miami clearly had a crippling case of moderate-to-severe False Startitis. But he was effective in the run game:

And whatever other problems he's having, it didn't prevent this unit as a whole from giving Drake Maye a pressure rate of under 20% for the first time in his career. And the effect has been obvious:

But this blog isn't supposed to be about what's going on behind center, but along the LOS. So let's stick to that. But switch sides.

That worst pass rush in the league i mentioned earlier? Yeah, about that. …

Thanks in large part to the veteran free agents Vrabel added, and the return of Christian Barmore from his blood clot problems:

These guys, along with K'Lavon Chaisson, got stronger as the game went on in Miami:

… which is the exact opposite of what's been happening to Patriots defenses since the Bronze Age. And did nothing less than steal a game they never would've won in practically any other year.

None of this is to suggest all the problems are solved. On the contrary. The defense is still giving up chunk plays at an alarming rate. And made Geno Smith and Tua Tagovailoa look way more competent than the other defenses they've faced. This is me merely pointing out that the goal was to fix the problems along the line of scrimmage. Which is by far the least sexy way of turning a loser team into a winner. But is also the most practical, responsible, and sustainable. In that respect, so far this has been Mission: Accomplished. And there's no reason to believe it won't keep up. Building from the trenches tends to last every time it's done right.