Mike Vrabel Showed Up at the Combine and Wasted No Time Establishing Himself as the Perfect Man to Lead the Patriots Back to Greatness

Last year at this time, the best way to describe the Patriots situation was "cautious optimism." With a heavy emphasis on the caution. The Pats braintrust arrived in Indy for the Combine flush with cap space, the No. 3 pick in a quarterback-heavy draft. A first time GM and a rookie head coach who had never been as much as a coordinator before, but who promised the plan was to "burn cash" in free agency. 

That was of course before Jerod Mayo later walked that statement back. The first of many such statements he'd end up Moonwalking more than the ensemble of MJ: The Musical. And the reason for all that backpedaling ended up being the fact that in free agency Eliot Wolf ended up signing Antonio Gibson, Austin Hooper, and really not anyone else worth mentioning. 

But that was then. This, it would follow logically, is now. The Patriots staff showed up at the NFL Talent Rodeo with even more cap room (almost 30% more than the No. 2 team), the No. 4 pick (thanks again, Mayo), and the biggest piece already in the puzzle thanks to the selection of Drake Maye. And just as importantly, Mike Vrabel there, with final say in all personnel decisions. Making this less about cautious optimism and more about the much more desirable, perfectly justified kind of optimism:

Source - "I'm confident that we'll be aggressive," Vrabel said Tuesday at the NFL combine. "We've started some of those discussions internally. We have to be ready to pivot and adjust and have a vision for each player at each level.

"There's going to be this high level [financially] that things are going to get done very quickly. That will transition then to maybe some midrange dollars. And obviously you look at opportunity. Free agency gets broken down into compensation and opportunity. I feel like we're in a position to offer both." …

Their top needs include the offensive line, wide receiver and the defensive front seven, with Vrabel pointing out the Eagles' 40-22 victory over the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX as a notable example of how being strong up front on both sides of the ball is critical because "that game was clearly won at the line of scrimmage." …

Vrabel hinted that the Patriots plan to pursue some players who are expected to land lucrative contracts.

"I like to shop like everybody else," Vrabel said. "So when you go and there's only one of a certain car, maybe you have to pay a little bit more for that one car, because there's only one of them. When you start to get into a range where you feel like players are comparable, and you like three to four players in a certain area for a certain role, you may not have to overspend.

"But it's free agency. I think everyone overspends sometimes in free agency."

Sweet Car-o-line, is this ever music to these ears. This is Vrabel planting his flag in the middle of the NFL logo and establishing his dominance. Declaring in a loud voice for the world writ large but New England in particular that the days of working around the edges and hunting for bargains in the Free Agency Dollar Store are over. No more off-label offensive tackles, store brand linebackers and generic equivalents of edge rushers. He's heading into the marketplace looking to bring home quality merchandise. And if he has to spend more to get it, well that's the reality of rebuilding a team that's gone 8-26 under the last two coaches. 

And there won't be a repeat. He's not preaching patience or trying to remind suffering Pats fans on how it took to build Rome. He's interested in the best kind of gratification ever invented. The instant kind:

And at the same time, he's going to sort out last year's dreadful class of non-Maye rookies:

It all starts right now, with the evaluation process in Indianapolis. But it begins in earnest on March 12th. And its then that he intends to come out of free agency "with a roster than can line up and play tomorrow." Which seems to me to be a hell of an improvement over last year's plan, which was to do next to nothing and line Chuks Okorafor at LT in Week 1 and release him after 12 snaps. Or sign Demontrey Jacobs in the middle of camp. 

That nonsense is over as of right now. As of the moment Mr. Kraft made an offer that Vrabel accepted and signatures were put on the line which is dotted. There's obviously months of work still to come and thousands of decisions to be made. But just having this Patriots legend's steady hand on the wheel proves we're on the right course.