The New England Patriots enter Year 1 with head coach Mike Vrabel, and they have garnered an interesting comparison to an AFC East rival during their early rebuild stages under a young quarterback.
Over the offseason, the Patriots spent a significant amount of money in free agency to rebuild the squad into a competitive one in the AFC. Ahead of the 2025 NFL season, New England was the focus of the latest “The Athletic Football Show.”
All eyes will be on Drake Maye if he can take the next step in his development as he prepares for Year 2 in the NFL.
Can the Patriots mirror their AFC East rival?
During the episode, co-host Robert Mays stated that New England’s current roster under Vrabel resembles what the Buffalo Bills had in their early years with Josh Allen and head coach Sean McDermott.
“It reminds me of the 2019 Bills, [but] the Bills spent less money,” Mays said. [Allen] was a second-year player, and they went from Robert Foster to John Brown and Cole Beasley. That may not seem that important. I know 31-year-old [Stefon] Diggs will talk about this and Kyle Williams, but there is a chance that we see a significant step with this group, even if there are no proven stars that have been added to the equation here.”
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New England only won four games last season, so they’ll be looking to take a step forward from this win total and lay the foundation for what Vrabel wants to install, whether it’s culture-related or winning habits.
The Patriots will open up the 2025 season facing the two teams that missed the playoffs last campaign, with a game against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 1 and AFC East rival the Miami Dolphins in Week 2. These are two winnable games for New England as they look to get off on the right foot in the Vrabel era.
