Patriots coach Mike Vrabel will miss the third day of the draft to participate in counseling, given the recent controversy that continues to reverberate throughout the league.
After the Patriots made their first-round pick on Thursday night, V.P. of player personnel Eliot Wolf met with reporters. He was eventually asked about Vrabel’s absence, and how things will work without Vrabel in the room.
“I just refer to the statement,” Wolf said. “That’s a personal thing that Mike’s dealing with and going through, and obviously we support him. As far as the work is concerned on Saturday, not too worried about that. Just as far as the process that we have in place, the people that we have in place. And it’s going to be different without his presence there, but we feel really good about the people that we have in place to make up for it.”
Wolf also was asked what the organization will be missing, without Vrabel.
“The stability of him as a person, some of the leadership, some of the presence,” Wolf said. “He does a nice job for us with the undrafted players. Obviously, he’s a tremendous recruiter, so that’s maybe something that we’ll be missing. But again, we’re very confident in the people we have with the process. The assistant coaches have done a tremendous job, as have the scouts, preparing for day three. And we’re excited about it.”
Wolf said that he’ll be able to contact Vrabel if necessary. Wolf will have final say on the picks made.
As it relates to undrafted players, the absence of Vrabel becomes a potentially significant wrinkle. Someone else will need to fill his role as a “tremendous recruiter,” underscoring the impact of Vrabel not being with the team during the scramble for rookies who aren’t among those who are drafted.
Read the full article here
