The first episode of Forged in Foxborough dropped a few days ago and boy, oh boy, was it good.
For those who haven’t fully boarded the Mike Vrabel hype train yet, the first part of this very well-produced behind the scenes look should convince you.
There was a lot to take away from the first episode, which had several different sections throughout the full hour-plus. Here’s what stood out:
First Team Meeting
We’ve all seen the video the Patriots posted of the first team meeting, but we hadn’t seen the whole thing. I may have just completely missed it in the clip they put out, but Drake Maye front and center in the front row. Always good to see.
When Vrabel was speaking, he said “Do we trust you to do your job?” and “Do you trust the coaches?” Trust among the staff and players has been a big issue the last few years. Doesn’t seem to be a problem anymore, at least for now.
Going over some of his guidelines, he also said “Tell the Truth. Seek the Truth. Handle the truth.” Love this. If guys can’t hold each other accountable with honesty, no one is going to improve day-to-day.
I found it interesting that Jabrill Peppers was one of the guys giving the team a breakdown following a workout. After his roller coaster 2024, I wonder if Vrabel still sees him as a leader in that locker room.
Also loved this quote from Vrabel: “This game doesn’t care what f’n car you drove into the lot with this morning.” Just a no-nonsense approach from him. Exactly what this team needs.
Vrabel’s introductory press conference day
We see Lawyer Milloy talking about Vrabel as a teammate back in the day. The former Pats safety called him the “heartbeat” of the locker room and also said he was a chameleon, meaning he could blend in with different groups of guys. Jerod Mayo certainly couldn’t do that.
They show highlights from Super Bowl XXXVIII against Carolina and I forgot just how much of a menace he was in that game, aside from the TD catch.
Seeing Romeo Crennel and Pep Hamilton, I feel like they deserve more credit than they get not just for the success of those early dynasty teams, but for developing so many players on defense. Bill gets all the credit, but those guys were incredible coaches.
You absolutely see where the Vrabel and Parcells comparisons come into play when Vrabel is shown coaching in Houston and he yells “of course he’s tired!” talking about Courtney Brown. I immediately thought of Parcells’ “she’s fine” comment regarding Terry Glenn back in the day.
We see a cool clip of Vrabel and now-BC offensive coordinator Will Lawing side by side high fiving after a sack. This was also during a Bill O’Brien speaking portion of the documentary. There’s no doubt in my mind that relationship is going to be mutual beneficial between BC and the Pats as long as both guys are in their current spots.
During an interview Vrabel is told that Rodney Harrison calls him the “best kind of asshole.” I hope people say that about me one day.
More reason to love Vrabel: he yells “worker’s comp is good!” taking a shot in voluntary workouts. Just night and day from Mayo.
Josh McDaniels
Gronk pays McDaniels an extraordinary compliment during the Games with Names Edelman podcast, saying he always put him in the right situations all the time.
We all see a clip of him talking to Malcolm Mitchell on the sideline during a game. Such a shame he got hurt. Mitchell had the big Super Bowl against Atlanta and could have ended a lot of those ‘the Pats can’t draft and develop wide receiver’ conversations.
Terrell Williams
They don’t spend much time on the coordinators, but we get a nice clip of Williams telling a Titans player he “can’t wait to watch him play.” No chance anyone on the staff last season said that to a player.
We also see Dan Campbell of the Lions giving extremely high praise to Williams as both a coach and a man, adding he’s “just top notch.” Feels like Vrabel got that one right, hopefully Williams is able to safely recover from his health scare soon and get back around the guys.
East West Shrine Bowl/Senior Bowl
From this point on, we see a TON of collaboration between the scouts, Ryan Cowden, Camren Williams, Eliot Wolf and Vrabel.
A little BC Pro Day footage thrown in with Doug Marone and Drew Kendall.
Interesting nugget from Wolf who says he prefers watching 7-on-7 v. 1-on-1’s. Neat look at what they value in terms of the in-person scouting at the All Star games.
Kyle Williams was discussed among scouts during a meeting as top guy on National team. Turns out they were high on him since March.
We see a lot of Cowden, Wolf and Vrabel sitting together in Alabama at the Senior Bowl. Either they’re really pushing that it’s a full team effort with the front office or we just all really underestimated Wolf’s staying power here.
-Cowden was high on FSU Joshua Farmer
NFL COMBINE
More great behind the scenes stuff with Vrabel at the NFL Combine. He’s competitive as hell, chirping scouts about timing 40’s on his phone compared to their stopwatches.
Cool look at Vrabel and Wolf talking about structuring a scout meeting/discussion, really showing that relationship to the fans for the first time.
Will Campbell’s dependability was discussed at another Combine meeting. The word “professionalism” stands out from Williams when talking about him and the scene backs up draft night talk from Vrabel regarding falling in love with him early.
FREE AGENCY
We see Milton Williams and his family. He seems like a really humble dude who just wants to win.
Morgan Moses tells Kraft at the introductory presser for the ‘major’ free agent signings that they’re going to “kick some ass.” Moses also mentions wanting to walk the same tunnels of Gillette that guys like Brady walked through. We might be a long way from those glory days, but that aura is still there a bit for players who haven’t played here yet.
While both Carlton Davis & Robert Spillane certainly got paid, you can tell how much they both came to play for Vrabel.
Harold Landry mentions it was easy to make the decision to come back with his BC ties.
We see the Ja’Marr Chase clip where he’s talking to Devin McCourty about Davis, saying “he ain’t got no knee bend,” as he says Davis is the toughest matchup he’s had. We then see Davis saying “I think respect is a big thing in this league…that just lets you know how legit you are.”
McCourty goes on to say Christian Gonzalez and Davis should be able to lock up top receivers and and free the rest of the D up.
Stefon Diggs says “it was real simple” once getting the call from the Patriots.
DRAFT
The last half hour or so of this first episode was awesome, War Room footage that all Pats fans have really clamored for over the years. We’d get it with Bill Belichick at times, but not like this.
There’s a really cool nugget from Wolf early, who says he’s been in a draft room every year from 1993 on.
Vrabel says he watched 13 drafts after being selected to see who replacement was, giving us a real insight into the players’ mindset each and every season.
Eliot Wolf gives the room a brief speech before draft. Again, I’m not sure if it was on purpose to really show Wolf in such a place of power throughout this process, but he’s got a MUCH bigger role than many people thought he would when Vrabel brought Cowden on board.
Wolf reiterates what he’s told the media several times, that this draft process was much more ‘regimented and organized’ than he’s ever been through before.
Highlight of the show so far is the phone call with Vrabel and Will Campbell. The very first thing he says to his new franchise left tackle “I promise you that’s the last time you’ll knock the shit out of me,” referencing the time Campbell knocked him down during a workout. Campbell responded with “I’m going to make you do it in practice too…I was trying to seal the deal.” You can tell that’s a fantastic relationship already.
While on the plane to Foxborough, Campbell says he got a text from Kyle Williams that said “Not bad for a short armed cat out of Louisiana.”
During his jersey photo day at Gillette, we see a fan outside the fence near the practice fields saying ‘you’re one of ours now buddy’ and it’s in the most New England accent ever.
More comedy from Vrabel, calling Marone Mr. Rogers once Campbell arrives because of the way Marrone’s dressed.
More fascinating looks at trade and in-house discussions. Wolf had told us that there was a real debate about the second round pick. It turns out that debate was about whether or not to slide down for a receiver or take TreVeyon Henderson debate. Henderson wins out.
Funny scene as Wolf immediately says no on 3rd round trade call before taking Williams. Like, he gave it zero thought and everyone agreed once he told them the return in the deal.
You can hear the emotion and fire in Williams during his call with Vrabel when he’s selected, saying: “I’m ready to fu**ing go.” I think fans are going to love him.
It was striking how completely in control of the room Vrabel was. We all see him sitting next to Wolf and Cowden the entire time, with Matt Groh behind them and scouts filling out the rest of the room.
Matt Groh was the ‘call in’ guy, letting the league know when the Pats were trading a pick or taking it.
More good stuff from Wolf, getting off the phone and saying “Someone thinks he can bully me” before the Pats made another pick. Wolf came off very, very well in this first episode.
Another great line from Vrabel on his call with kicker Andres Borregales, telling him they’re going to let him kick here but he can’t wear sleeves.
One of the final clips we see is of Vrabel telling the team if both the offensive and defensive lines work how they did that particular day in practice they’ll “tear teams’ asses up.” Fans should love hearing that and it’s only May.