The New England Patriots begin a new era of football in 2025. And while there’s optimism surrounding new coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye, there are still plenty of holes to fill.
ESPN released an early power rankings for the 2025 season that didn’t exactly favor New England — who was ranked 24 of 32 teams.
“First-year coach Mike Vrabel will be the primary decision-maker in building the team in his vision, as the Patriots targeted him to help spark a turnaround,” ESPN’s Mike Reiss wrote. “The Patriots are coming off back-to-back 4-13 seasons under former head coaches Bill Belichick and Jerod Mayo. Vrabel said the presence of rookie Drake Maye, a ‘young dynamic quarterback,’ was one of the top reasons he was interested in the job, and now the goal is to put pieces around him.”
The Patriots have a lot of work to do if they don’t want to three-peat their 4-13 record from 2023 and 2024. They have $130 million in cap space — so a move or two is certainly doable — as well as the fourth pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
New England has a lot of holes to fill including wide receiver. Cooper Kupp announced the Los Angeles Rams informed him of their intent to trade him, and the San Francisco 49ers granted Deebo Samuel permission to seek a trade. Both players were add a target for Maye and some veteran presence for the locker room.
It remains to be seen what improvements the Patriots will make this offseason, but Vrabel is motivated to get his team back on track.
