FOXBOROUGH - On the day the Patriots released one of the last links to their championship era, David Andrews, the organization paraded out their leadership, from owner Robert Kraft, Executive VP of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf, and new head coach Mike Vrabel, to celebrate four of their big free-agent signees. Unusual, yes. But after back-to-back 4-13 seasons, this is indeed a different time, and the franchise is a different place.
"I'm very excited about what's coming," said Kraft. "I've been told I should calm down..."
No. The big boss doesn't need to do that. It's okay to have expectations. They should be welcomed, within reason. The addition of Vrabel has given this scuffling program a needed jolt, and despite some significant holes on the roster - which the brass acknowledged today - this new identity is forming.
"I'm confident we got the right people, and now it's our job to put them in the right places as players, to get the best out of them," said Vrabel, noting, "We don't want to be just careless, right? And so we don't want to be reckless through this process. We want to be very intentional with the people we bring on this football team, and we'll continue to target all the needs that we feel like and the players that can help us."
In the room Thursday afternoon, some of those guys they believe in took the stage one by one: Carlton Davis, Morgan Moses, Robert Spillane, and Milton Williams. They all have reasons for being here. Money is undoubtedly first on the list. In fact, the man who received the single greatest guaranteed dollar contract in team history broadly smiled when asked about that deal, "That's a blessing. I just won a Super Bowl a couple weeks ago. I thought that was the biggest day of my life, but this is probably going to jump that (laughter)."
The cat-quick defensive tackle is an interesting case study. Coming out of high school, Williams was overlooked and ended up at Lousiana Tech, where he dominated. He did the same at the scouting combine and got selected 73rd overall in the 2021 draft. But it was a slow climb in Philadelphia until he broke out in year four.
"Hard work will never betray you," said Williams. "And anything - you know - you put your head down and work at something, you end up being successful at it. Throughout my life, everything I have gotten hasn't been a handout. I had to go above and beyond to get everything I earned."
The same holds for Spillane. He was an undrafted free agent who kept taking what Vrabel and the Titans gave him as a rookie in 2018 and making it work.
"It got to be a joke where we keep throwing him out there and see if someone can make Spillane miss, and then Jon Robinson (Tennessee's GM then) and I were like, 'We have to have him on the football team.'"
That didn't lead to instant success. Spillane played for several teams and dealt with his fair share of injuries until blossoming into a tackling machine in Las Vegas.
"I always say it doesn't happen by accident," he said, with his pregnant wife and young child in attendance. "It doesn't happen overnight. This has been years in the making, years of intentional actions throughout every day, living my life a certain way to try to get to where I am right now."
Speaking of years in the making, say hello to Davis. During his brief time at the mic (he didn't take questions), Wolf told us he's been trying to corral the cornerback since he was draft-eligible. As he admitted, the powers that be in Cleveland rejected his wishes, but now, the playmaking corner is finally on his roster.
"Hopefully, we can just play cat coverage, like 'I got this cat, you got this cat,' and we can go to work," cracked Vrabel when asked about pairing Davis with Christian Gonzalez. "Just an aggressive - I would say the thing I appreciate about watching CD is they may catch a ball on him, and he just lines back up, and he competes, and he challenges, and he tries to play aggressive, and there's a play style that we embrace."
"It's always good to be wanted, especially in this league," said Davis, adding, "Ultimately, I wanted to be somewhere where I felt like I was a priority, be somewhere where I felt like I could come here and build and I could be a leader 0 not to say I wasn't a leader there, but I wanted to be somewhere that appreciated me and my family and made me feel welcome. Not to throw any shade because I know how ya'll like to twist things up. I loved Detroit. I would never want to throw no shade to the 313."
Lastly, Morgan Moses, the greybeard of the group, or 'OG,' as he referenced himself. If he plays half as well as he answers questions, the Pats are in good hands. Moses has gone through games with a torn pectoral, which he told me felt like a heart attack in the moment. He's played on a bum knee, a bad back, and everything else, yet he almost always posts. The word rebuild was used once or twice today, but Moses clearly doesn't view it that way.
"You know, you don't need a miracle to win football games," the 34-year-old said. "You just need the right people in the building. Obviously, with Coach Vrabel here, we've got the right people. Our owner is an amazing owner, and then, obviously, we've got the right people here. CD (Davis) won a Super Bowl; Milton (Williams) just won a Super Bowl. They're going to bring knowledge of the game on how to bring longevity through those weeks - (weeks) 18, 19, 20 - when it hurts when people want to tap out, how to keep going. It's important for us to be able to learn from one another, and everybody has different qualities.
"Robert (Spillane) - eight years in the league as a free agent without a tryout, and he comes in here, and now he's 140 tackles two years in a row. That doesn't happen overnight. That's preparation. That's dawg. That's brotherhood. That's mentality. That's somebody that comes in the building every day to learn. So, guys are going to get around these guys. We're going to talk football, we're going to talk IQ, we're going to talk brotherhood, we're going to learn about each other on the field and off the field, so when we get on the field, nothing that comes at us - no adversity that touches us on the field is going to be able to break us, because we're going to have an unbelievable bond."
In addition to talent, that mentality has been lacking in this locker room over the last few seasons. Character has been a priority, and perhaps the Pats are overpaying for that trait in a few of these free-agent signings. But as Vrabel and Company look to get this program pointed in the right direction, it's important — perhaps critical — to have guys who know how it's done. This is a good step in that direction.
