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Albert Breer told Toucher & Hardy that Mike Vrabel’s “rat in the building” comment wasn’t just about one injury report, but a warning to keep leaks from getting out. Breer said Vrabel’s paranoia likely comes from past coaching turmoil and lingering tensions inside the organization. He added that the Patriots are still in a tough rebuild, and Vrabel is trying to learn from his time in Tennessee while setting the tone in New England.
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00:00we were talking about this earlier uh mike vrabel was saying that there's a a rat in the building he
00:05didn't he didn't like that uh what are your thoughts on that and the way he seems to be
00:11tempering expectations well i think the the paranoia about some of the media stuff has
00:17sort of been there for the last couple of months um and i do wonder if it's left over from the last
00:25couple of years these guys obviously have connections to each other and these guys know
00:30guys who are on the previous coaching staffs and um i do think that there was a little
00:35bitterness is the right word but something along those lines um from the staffs that got fired on
00:44how the environment here might have contributed to those guys losing their jobs and it does make me
00:51wonder if guys on the current staff had heard this from the previous staffs and are hypersensitive
00:57to the idea that people in the building are talking about the way things are going or could talk about
01:04the way things are going so because it was a simple question yeah i just asked him about polk
01:09oh was you yeah it was this answer of like we got a rat here it's very straightforward and i think you
01:16know roachie in a lot of cases like people are like well why are you like they don't like talking
01:20about injuries it's like no you're just trying to confirm what a report what's been reported is
01:26true like that's all that's a standard thing sometimes mike would say yes yeah that happens
01:31right yeah that that happens it like with every team every week of the nfl season you know what i
01:38mean like in the injury rate in the nfl is 100 that happens all the time so i i do wonder if it's
01:44some of that's the residue of the last couple of years like he was currently sending a message
01:49to their birth that was beyond way beyond that no but but like it's just it makes you wonder is
01:53that is their radar up for sure the last couple of staffs like got weighed down by a negative
02:00environment in the in in the in boston and some stuff that happened inside the building came out
02:05so we need to dip everything in the bud and i wonder if it had nothing to do with your question
02:13and more to do with i need to send a message to everybody inside these walls that you are not to talk
02:18about this stuff are there guys still employed that's the type of thing by the way that's the
02:23type of thing that comes from an agent like nine times out of ten that comes from the okay but are
02:28based on where it was reported i would say that the likelihood is it's from the player's side whether
02:32it's the agent the player himself an advisor whoever well poke's lucky he's hurt because i don't know if
02:37he's on this team but the uh the thing is this is that do you think there are people in the building
02:44right now that would be motivated to kind of talk off the record to the media about things based on
02:51where they are in terms of their position in the organization i mean they're still in the honeymoon
02:56phase so i don't think so i mean well what about guys that have been around like an elliot wolf
03:01i mean i talked to enough people to know like there is people are being careful about what
03:07they're saying i would say um i don't think i like i don't i think people have a misperception
03:14about the way some of that stuff works um in that i'm not sure that there are very many people that
03:24are walking around saying like well i don't like the head coach in year one and so i'm going to start
03:28talking about everything that's happening the building that's not really how that happens i
03:33i do think like that you know like if you have a pre-existing relationship with somebody they're
03:39going to help you out and our job is to have as many of those pre-existing relationships as possible
03:44and obviously like in a lot of ways for that reason our jobs conflict with the guys and
03:50the jobs the guys who are in charge and i've said that i mean i was on bill o'brien's podcast
03:55um a month ago and i said from bc yeah why he had yeah he was he's on bc now yeah yeah i know but
04:03he has a podcast yeah he has a podcast great he had variable on the podcast it was really good
04:07yeah it's good why the hell does he have a podcast for recruiting and stuff like that like it's just
04:12people have college coaches have to do that college coaches do that stuff i thought that it would be
04:16i thought there's they host a show but he does well they do but it kind of morphed into a podcast yeah
04:21it's actually like john meta perel produces it's it's actually a really it's pretty good they're
04:25gonna get better audio but it's pretty good he does a good job oh well i got to talk to one of
04:30the five people that have heard it um but anyway but but i said but i said it too right here i i said
04:35it on his podcast that like our jobs naturally conflict with each other you know like and that's
04:42just the reality of covering a team is that there are going to be points where me doing my job is
04:49going to be detrimental to you doing your job and you have to figure out and learn how to manage
04:56that and still maintain relationships and that's just part of it um but i this felt to me one million
05:02percent like a warning shot to other people yeah my question would be what good would it do at this
05:06point right now where they are in the relationship as a group as a team going forward would would what
05:12good would it do elliot wolf to release something like that nothing right nothing nothing and i know
05:16what do you think it would do for elliot wolf yeah it just would probably cover him a little
05:21bit that someone from his draft class didn't get cut and look at that class right but why would it
05:27help him to put that out with mike in his relationship why would it like what like that's going to get
05:32out regardless if he's out for the year like there's no concealing that that's getting out
05:36regardless so what i think is do you think mike variable is a little sensitive to all this like
05:40who cares that's what i'm reporting no no no but that's what i'm saying joe is like i don't think
05:44that this is specifically about this one thing i think it's a warning shot to everyone in the
05:48organization not to talk that's all it is and i and i think it's probably probably has something to do
05:54with the sensitivity over the way the last two seasons ended but they are on their third coach in
06:00three years all right he did not wash everybody out of the organization like he knows that if things
06:09are fine now he knows if like if they don't think their team is going 10 and 7 11 and 6 whatever
06:17if they look at it and say we're probably seven or eight wins and there could be some bumps here
06:22and we still might deflect might need to flush some people out right well then there's going to be
06:27backstory to that and people are going to start digging into the backstory and there was over the
06:33last couple of years a lot of backstory that became public right like i think andrew callahan's done a
06:39good job with some of that as far as the people on the beat you know obviously the guys who've been
06:43around forever current and reese like there's been you there's been an ability from people to be able
06:49to get stuff out of there and i think mike knows that he you know there's again relationships between
06:56people in the league where they're gonna know what the experience the last two coaching staffs was like
07:02and you know if you put if you want to put the whole thing together you can say
07:07we're not as good as people think we are there are going to be bumps there's still some house
07:13cleaning to do we need to make sure we get ahead of any stuff getting out there that could
07:19cause some things to happen that really might have undermined i think there needs to be a big
07:24probably in mike's mind right a cleansing of the organization right from from top to bottom and he's
07:30talked about that setting one way for everybody in the organization on one same same page and i think
07:36he's trying to stop that right now from this time on well just make it keep your circle very small
07:41like belichick did and have five terrible drafts you also have to you also have to remember where mike
07:45came from and what the problem was in tennessee that's the other thing is like he was dealing with
07:51an organization that has a zillion different masters and that i mean one of the reasons he was fired
07:58was simply because the owner didn't like the environment in the building and the owner felt
08:03like mike was walking all over everybody now mike would tell you i think i think mike would flat out
08:08tell you like ask the coaches ask the players they didn't have those problems right but there are other
08:14people in the organization that felt that way and so because he was too aggro like he was too like
08:20much of like an alpha guy yeah i mean like that that it was my way or the highway that he was that he
08:26walked all over people and i think you've seen mike do things to combat that with how he's like
08:31involved players family you watch a lot of the stuff that's out there it's involving people's
08:35families and it's trying to create a better environment like i do think like there's some
08:40self-awareness on mike's part it is crazy because i've never seen a coach with the ability to speak
08:45to players one through 90 now it's one through whatever and every day and and be out there and one
08:51play he's talking to fred toucher about something on the defensive side the very next play he's
08:56shouting something to somebody on the offensive side and a lot of that it's just it's it's part
09:01of it and it's just kind of like he looks like he's taking control of everything but it's his
09:05personality that's the whole and that's that's the whole thing with him it's fascinating when he first
09:09got to tennessee that was basically his message to the players is that i you know i can look out in
09:15the meeting room and i've been every one of you i've been the guy who was running down on kickoffs at
09:20the start of my career hoping to make it i've been a pro bowler i've been the guy making nothing i've been
09:25the guy on the big contract i've been the guy hanging on at the end who barely had anything
09:30left like i've been the tight end to catch a pass i've been you know i've been all everything right
09:34like that was his that was sort of his thing in tennessee and so um yeah i mean i think like the
09:40ability to make that connection with players with mike is undeniable but i think there's also that too
09:46but there was also like that feeling in tennessee and especially after what you know everything
09:52happened with john robinson with aj brown and everything else and then they bring in rain
09:56carthon who wasn't really his pick he had had ryan cowden there ryan cowden had been the interim gm
10:01and there were all these moving parts and the thing got all tangled up and it wound wound up ending
10:06and hit and the owner walking in unceremoniously fought and firing him and you want to learn from
10:12that and get it right this time and so like now again like it's another example of trying and he's
10:18amazing harrison phillips who was with the vikings you know who was but he was at a they were special
10:24olympics out in minnesota at the joint practices him and drake may and harrison phillips what do
10:28you think of rabel and he's like that guy he goes i won the what's the award at the ed block courage
10:33award each team it gets one one player he says i won it i got a call from mike congratulating me on
10:38the ed block courage award and not only that but then i come to joint practices and mike singles me out
10:43and says how's your family how's everybody because i'm i'm going up against this guy i'm trying to
10:48beat the heck out of him and he's he's kind of like setting me off like what does he ask me all
10:53these questions about my family my kids he knows everybody and everything else too but that's
10:56kind of his personality that's very different than i think i've ever seen in any coach he's like bill
11:01clinton i think i think there's makes you feel like you're the only person in the room i i personally
11:05think it's like there is a awareness that mike has that you can't just flip a switch and change
11:15everything and i think it's i think it's something that a lot of people here don't realize they think
11:21that oh yeah we can just hire a coach and then it'll all be fixed and that's not the way it works
11:26you are on your third coach in three years um you know i and i've heard a lot of this like on the
11:33expectations thing right so i think can we break and get to that because because i want you to be
11:40able to see your piece all right we have headlines we'll be right back joe you had something for birds
11:44uh yes two things uh number one uh sounds like mike vrabel well he announced today that um stefan
11:50digs will be ready to go week one um i just wanted to ask you was there any smoke to the fact that they
11:56were unhappy or the reports that he was a pain in the posterior i believe was the uh quote that i saw in
12:02the in the new i believe phil barry had that um was there anything to that and you mentioned a
12:07projected trade if there was one of digs and picks for bucklorn if a deal could get done i i so on the
12:15first thing i like i think as far as like this summer goes digs has done everything that's been asked
12:21of him this summer there's gonna be some stuff some ancillary stuff that goes along with having
12:27him which is sort of the price of admission with stefan always has been uh doesn't mean he's a bad
12:32guy i actually personally like him a lot uh but there's always been a little bit extra and i'm
12:37going to be interested to see how he fits in his thing has always been getting the ball and i think
12:45last year one reason it wasn't a problem in houston was because he walked into the receiver room oh
12:51there's nico collins that's a real number one what happens when he walks into a receiver room when
12:56there isn't one of those there if he's not getting the ball that's a question you know won't be
13:01answered till we get to see the you think he'll get the ball i think he will initially right yeah
13:06no i think i mean i would think they will get him the ball but that was part of the problem in
13:10buffalo was like the bills got a little tired of like every three plays if josh hasn't thrown over
13:17that way then you know we got we got some maintenance we gotta take care of well it killed alan's career
13:22when he left yeah yeah so um and then and then got that right on the trade idea so
13:31look everything washington has done has been pushing their chips into the middle of the table for
13:37this year trading for marshall latimore in season last year trading for devo samuel trading for laramie
13:44tunsel they're trying to take advantage of the rookie contract window with their quarterback
13:48and if you look at their receiver room they like the rookie they have jalen lane out of virginia tech
13:55i mean debo is what he is at this point of his there's just not a ton there so they really need
14:02terry mclaurin so like my whole thing was if this is another one like the cincinnati situation with
14:09trey hendrickson where if you're going to come in and offer something for terry mclaurin which i don't
14:15think it's going to happen anyway i think they're going to get it they're going to find a resolution
14:19there i think you got to give them some help now and if they don't like the idea of making this
14:27commitment to an older receiver where they have to guarantee money in 26 and 27 for a guy who's
14:34turning 30 well steph digg's contract does have flexibility to bail after 25 after 26 there's way
14:44more flexibility baked into that contract on top of the fact that steph is from dc so there's just
14:51like some pieces together like if you want to get creative and it was my idea it's not coming from
14:55my phone or anything like that but like if you want to get creative about it like and you were
15:00willing to give up a first round pick to go get terry mclaurin would terry and steph make sense where
15:05you're helping washington now and you're helping washington later does him saying that he will be ready
15:10to go week one does it change the fact he's will he be a patriot week one steph on dick yeah okay yeah
15:16yeah do you think the patriots are leery of giving up anything now draft pick wise because of the
15:22situation they're in with depth i think they should be yes i mean it doesn't they're not close all right
15:29and i understand again like this is sort of what i was getting to before the break fred
15:33i understand it sucks that people have had to sit through the last couple of years the way that
15:38that they have right and there's this whole thing about like well you know like it's been two years
15:44but have they been too productive years okay you can't sit there and say you can't sit there and say
15:52well we've we've waited to they've had long enough right and then kill them for the 24 draft
15:58and kill them for the 20th there's like if there's nothing there there's nothing there look at the
16:04last five drafts how many productive players are how many how many guys that you're going to look at
16:10and say that could be a cornerstone going forward are there from those drafts christian gonzalez maybe
16:15christian barmore right and that's a question mark too else yeah who else so i mean and and we can see
16:23we'll see what happens with this year's draft class but you can't sit there and count like the last two
16:28years is like well you know like there's no excuse they should be building and blah blah blah blah blah
16:32blah and then kill them for the draft class and say like that doesn't make any sense right but it
16:38makes sense it's just flat out that defies logic and right and what's common sense is you look at
16:43their their team yeah and it's it's all players that they've brought in or drafted like now right and
16:49then and then the depth that's behind them they're getting rid of that was there that says the quality
16:55of players that were here and what they need to do going forward i sat here okay in january february
17:04march of 2024 when when gerard and elliott took over and how many times did i say to you guys fred
17:11that this is a multi-off-season rebuild yeah right so if the 2024 off-season was a black hole draft free
17:19agency contracts all of that if that off-season was a black hole and we're all acknowledging it was a
17:24black hole then wouldn't it logically remain a multi-off-season rebuild if that off-season if you
17:30got nothing out of the 24 off-season we were all saying and i was leading the charge on this this is
17:36a multi-off-season rebuild and you got nothing out of that off-season wouldn't this remain a multi-off-season
17:43rebuild and that's what mike frable and ryan cowden and john striker walked into and i think that that's why
17:50you're getting you're getting that vibe now like they've realized like we are wafer thin on our
17:59roster we still have gaping holes we have some things here that we're not going to be able to
18:04hide or cover up especially with injuries in the nfl any injuries are going to kill them and then you
18:09look down the roster and then you look down the schedule it's like oh well look at the schedule
18:13well what exactly makes you different than carolina or vegas what tell me what makes you different
18:19quarterback right well no that's what i mean i would rather have gino smith week one than drake may
18:27who was a better quarterback last year gino smith or drake gino gino right so you're the best
18:32and i'm not saying drake's got a higher ceiling but but now we're projecting you know right i mean
18:39bryce young played well at the end of last year carolina's got a reason so it's just i think
18:44again there's just this this this level of entitlement i'd say in the fan base in the media
18:50and i i think that's part of what's making the new guys they're a little uncomfortable like wait a
18:55minute like this is we did not inherit the 2018 patriots here you know that's not what we're walking
19:03into we we we gotta go but uh burt a i really appreciate you coming in on londay i really do
19:09struggle getting in here but but i made it i didn't bust your balls for being late all right
19:13uh thank you mmqb amazon enjoy your labor day you too thank you for coming in now you have a full
19:20what's your first game damn we have to break it's 7 15 i'll ask you off the air if you like that clip
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