Bad Culture Fit? Mike Vrabel Pushes Back On DeAndre Hopkins Narrative

One of the reasons the Patriots took a cautious approach to pursue DeAndre Hopkins reportedly had to do with how New England believed the wideout would fit within the organization.

It led Hopkins to sign a two-year contract with the Tennessee Titans. And Titans coach Mike Vrabel doesn’t seem to think that narrative will play a role in Tennessee, where there’s a culture that’s been related to the Bill Belichick-run franchise in Foxboro.

“I’m confident that he’ll do what we ask him to do,” Vrabel recently said on Barstool Sports’ “Bussin’ With The Boys” podcast.

Vrabel served as Houston’s defensive coordinator in 2017 when Hopkins was a member of the Texans. Vrabel said having that experience with Hopkins, and the fact others on staff also have spent time with the three-time All-Pro, provided comfort in the decision.

“Any time you’re in free agency, I think you have to have some working knowledge of the player, who they are as a person, who they are in the building, whether one of your coaches coached them or you knew them,” Vrabel said. “… We’ve got some coaches on staff that have been with Hop, me included, so we obviously feel good about it.”

The Titans made a splash trade for Julio Jones prior to the 2021 campaign. The Jones experiment didn’t work out, though, as he was largely ineffective on the field and played just 10 games during his age-32 campaign. The Titans released Jones one season after trading two draft picks for him.

Vrabel doesn’t believe Jones’ lack of success in Tennessee will have any impact on Hopkins, however.

“I don’t think whatever happened in the past with another player is going to apply to this particular player and if things come up then we’ll have to work through them,” Vrabel said. “But we wouldn’t have signed him, or wanted to sign him, if we weren’t confident he’d help us.”

The deal was announced by the Titans on Monday afternoon. It’s worth noting another key aspect of New England’s decision reportedly came down to finances. Hopkins landed a better contract in Tennessee, which hasn’t gone over well with a large portion of the Patriots fanbase.