It is well documented that Patriots coach Mike Vrabel is a big believer in culture. When he was asked on Wednesday at the NFL Scouting Combine about what he expects when he meets with prospects, Vrabel said it is about getting to know them on a personal level as much as possible.
“Get as much as you guys can get, I guess. It’s about the same time. It depends what kind of questions you ask. You get 18 minutes. Some teams go over, and then they come rushing in and then the next team is late. That’s the process. It’s how long you can keep them past 18 minutes for the person that’s taking them to the other room, standing outside the room, banging on it. Some guys have a lot to talk about. Some guys have not as much. I think everybody has a story. Everybody has a journey. Some players have a little bit more in their journey that you have to unpack. There’s obviously follow-up, and this is a good first setting with 45 players.”
The journey is a big part of it. Vrabel wants to know a players backstory. His teams both in Tennessee and now in New England are built on the Four H’s. History, Heroes, Heartbreak, and Hope. The process of getting to know each of those aspects of a prospect begins at the Combine. Vrabel wants to know what makes them tick. Who they are as people.
Vrabel admitted that what he looks for in a player and a person changes in every interview. He stresses how important it is to look at each interview with a prospect from an individual lens.
“It really changes each and every interview, for me. I kind of sit there and listen for a little bit and just try to go in any direction and try to chime in where I can. But I don’t have like a set list of questions. I’m one of those reporters, Karen, that kind of goes with the flow and I feed off their answer. I don’t have a list. You guys, you come up and you have a list of questions that you have to ask me. I ask questions based off the answers I get.”
It is that off the cuff candor that makes Vrabel so authentic and genuine. He isn’t scripted. What you see is what you get. Authenticity is ultimately what he looks for when he is getting to know a player in the pre-draft interview process.
“Just trying to be authentic, open up about things that have happened, their growth, their maturity, things that they feel like they need to be successful from support people or coaching and where they feel like their development is. We don’t spend a bunch of time on X’s and O’s in 18 minutes. We don’t. We have an opportunity to do that down the line.”
Finding good football players who can help the Patriots win is ultimately the goal but as Vrabel, has said in the past, it is not just about finding good guys. They need to be good guys who can play football.
The first step is figuring them as people and whether or not they fit the culture established in New England. Figuring the player comes after that. If they can fit into the Patriots locker room and culture, they can ultimately play here.