SAN JOSE, Calif. -- New England's instant turnaround under Mike Vrabel is more fitting for a movie script than reality, yet it's what has led the Patriots back to the Super Bowl after a six-year hiatus.
Every other franchise would pay a fortune for a transformation like New England's -- with an appearance in Sunday's Super Bowl LX against the Seattle Seahawks -- especially in such a relatively short amount of time. According to key members of the Patriots, the cost was much less. In fact, all it took was a strategic approach to roster building to construct a Super Bowl-caliber squad.
"I think when you look at free agency, you have to get the right people, and they have to be talented, but you have to get the right people, and that they're made of the right stuff, that their bones are good, and they come from the right stuff," Vrabel said during Super Bowl LX Opening Night. "And that's the challenge that you wage in free agency sometimes, and we were very, I think, intentional about the people that we wanted and the type of people that we wanted to bring in, make commitments to.
"Then we added guys from the draft; we added some really good guys in the draft, and then guys that were left over. So, they committed to becoming a team early on, and that process still is happening right now."
Patriots fans will read that quote, scratch their chins and think gee, that sounds a lot like what used to get us here. It is, in fact, similar to how Bill Belichick constructed his dynastic Patriots over two decades, opting for players who fit an archetype instead of seeking pure talent.
Expert roster assembly is rare, but it's only half of the equation in New England. Another essential element is in play: top-down leadership provided by a coach who is perfectly (and perhaps uniquely) qualified to lead this team through the fire toward the gleam of the Lombardi Trophy.
"From Day 1, he set that standard. That culture," linebacker Harold Landry said of Vrabel during Super Bowl LX Opening Night. "And he brought in guys to kind of help him with that message. Vrabes is just at the forefront of it all.
"Guys have a lot of respect for him because he's been here and done it as a player. He knows what we're going through so when he speaks, it comes with a certain -- legit. You know what I'm saying? Because he's been there, done that."
Vrabel's return to New England as coach of the team for which he once won three Super Bowls as a player during the 2000s was a poetic homecoming in its own right. It was also crucial to the forming of this Patriots roster, largely because of who he was able to convince to follow him to Foxborough.
A few names immediately come to mind. Former Titans defenders Landry and Robert Spillane. Add in the likes of Jaguars 2020 first-round pick K'Lavon Chaisson, proven veteran cornerback Carlton Davis and defensive tackle Khyiris Tonga, plus major free-agent signing Milton Williams, and the picture begins to clarify: Each of their journeys was unique, yet they all felt the pull to play for Vrabel.
"I feel like they did such a great job of making sure our locker room consisted of not only good players, but good people," Landry said. "And when you have a locker room full of guys that have no ego, nobody's selfish, and the more work, the more reps you grind together, the closer you get. Going through a couple losses early in the season only made us stronger as a team. Guys had each others' backs and we just went to work, we just stayed consistent and believed in who we were and how we were doing things and just naturally over the course of the season, I feel like we all just got closer and closer."
"I wouldn't be here if he wasn't here. Definitely grateful he's my coach and he's the coach of the New England Patriots. I don't think anyone does it better, so definitely grateful to be playing for him."
Consider the case of Spillane, a Mid-American Conference product who entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent with Vrabel's Tennessee Titans in 2018 and only lasted through the end of October before the Titans waived him. The winding NFL journey that followed saw Spillane make stops in Pittsburgh and Las Vegas, yet when he received an opportunity to reunite with Vrabel in New England, he jumped at it.
He wasn't the only one, either.
"So many guys with unreal stories of how they got here. That's really the mesh of this team, that's the fabric of our unit defensively and the fabric of our team as a whole," Spillane said during Super Bowl LX Opening Night. "It's really a group of guys who have come together through hardship, through tough times, through overcoming adversity, each in our own individual ways but we learn that we all share adversity in common. Just to be part of this team is really special for me as a player."
The resulting product has been nothing short of remarkable, if not historic. Chaisson, a player largely considered to be a disappointment in Jacksonville, has enjoyed a career year that will undoubtedly draw a lucrative contract after Super Bowl LX. Williams has delivered on the lavish contract he signed in March and is back in the Super Bowl after winning Super Bowl LIX with the Philadelphia Eagles a year ago. Spillane has returned from a late-season injury and assumed his role as a hard-nosed, fearless linebacker -- traits once displayed by Vrabel back when he was on the field for the Patriots -- in New England's defense. Landry has repaired his reputation as a productive defender after the Titans released him in a cost-cutting move in early 2025.
Altogether, they've each contributed to a postseason run to the Super Bowl that most would have deemed absurd to even consider in August. And it all traces directly back to the coach who showed up and instilled belief that it was possible on Day 1.
"S---, honestly not long," Landry said when asked how quickly Vrabel set the standard for success in New England. "I'd say OTAs, to be honest. It's crazy how quickly everyone bought in and when you have a group like we have in our locker room that's not only talented, but everyone is bought into the same thing with one goal in mind, anything can happen, as you can see."
No matter who you talk to, it seems every Patriot has come to the same conclusion. They're the underdog team nobody saw coming, one that received a set of expectations from Vrabel, followed their coach's example and grew closer as the season progressed. They'll point to specific flashpoints in their 2025 journey -- the Week 3 loss to Pittsburgh that they "took a little hard," as linebacker Christian Elliss explained oh Tuesday, or the Week 15 collapse and loss to Buffalo, as cornerback Marcus Jones noted Monday -- and recall how it only strengthened their bonds, preparing them for the struggles that come with playoff football.
Each time, whether in rain, sleet or snow, the Patriots have prevailed.
There isn't a secret sauce behind the Patriots' story, either, at least not when Vrabel's players explain it. They've simply followed their coach's lead, focused on details and executed while staying true to the most basic tenets of football: Give your all for the man next to you.
"Even though we brought a lot of guys, a lot of coaching staff, different players, since Day 1 we've been building that bond week in and week out," Williams said during Super Bowl LX Opening Night. "Outside the building, going to get food, playing video games, watching tape together, all those things. We've just been building that brotherhood all year and it led us to this point."
Although the Super Bowl presents a stage this team hasn't seen in their current existence -- six years might not seem like a long time, but none of these Patriots were on the roster when New England last reached the Super Bowl in the 2018 season -- this team doesn't appear to be fazed by the enormity of the matter. After all, they shouldn't; they have a coach who can tell them all they need to know about playing in the greatest spectacle in sports.
Plus, as Vrabel communicated on his very first day, the process is more important than the stakes or the result.
"We aren't going to win the Super Bowl that day," Elliss said of Vrabel's initial message to his players. "It's going to take one day at a time."
The one day that matters most arrives Sunday.
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