Patriots’ Pecking Order Obvious Under Mike Vrabel Regime

FOXBORO, Mass. — Mike Vrabel is the top dawg in New England.

Robert Kraft, Jonathan Kraft, Robyn Glaser, Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith are the names we’ve heard over the last few months when it comes to the organization’s highest-ranking officials, but the real guy in charge of football operations made his return on Monday.

It’s clear to anyone who was at Gillette Stadium.

Vrabel has obvious control over how things will run moving forward at One Patriot Place. New England doesn’t seem to have an issue with that, either, as everything we heard during his re-introduction to the franchise painted the picture of someone who was given the final say after a year full of turmoil.

“I think the most important thing is there’s a shared organizational vision for what we want to do and how we want to work and how we want to acquire players,” Vrabel said. “There’s numerous ways to acquire players through free agency, trade, draft, post-draft process, after training camp. I’m excited to sit down with Eliot and his staff. I’ve met more with Eliot over the weekend than I have (anyone else). I’ve had conversations with him, but I need to sit down with his staff and figure out where we’re at, what we need to do. I’m confident that those types of decisions are all going to sort themselves out.

“We don’t always want to be on the same page. That’s not the environment we want to create, but we want to have a shared vision, and there’s also different ways to get there. I’m embracing that everyone’s going to have a different personality. I don’t want my staff to be like me. I don’t want all our players to be similar. We’re going to have diverse ideas, and that’s critical, and to be able to have those types of conversations is something I’m looking forward to.”

Vrabel isn’t going to outright say that he’s running the show, but there’s really no other way to do things after appointing him as head coach. New England reportedly is already making changes to the support staff, poaching one of Vrabel’s confidants from another organization to help create that “shared vision” he’s looking to develop.

Wolf is probably more than fine with the new direction, too, as improvements to the coaching staff and a more solidified vision will undoubtedly make his job a lot easier.

The Patriots are essentially turning back the clock with this move, elevating someone into the top seat that will have full reign over the direction of the franchise. It’s not exactly what we were used to seeing for two decades, but it’s close enough.

“I’m not Bill (Belichick), and I’m not Bill Cowher,” Vrabel said. “I’m not anyone other than me. I’ve taken those experiences, and I’ve tried to form what I believe is critical to the success of a football team and an organization.

“… Our goals will be to win the AFC East, to host home playoff games, and to compete for championships… That’s going to be the expectations, and we’re going to work like crazy, we’re going to compete like crazy, we’re going to give the players a plan, and they’re going to form an identity on the field in the way that we’re going to play and play for each other in a way that they’re going to be proud of.”

We will see where things go from here, but they’re off to a good start.