Mike Vrabel responds to Patriots’ quiet trade deadline

The 2025 NFL trade deadline came and went and despite multiple needs, the New England Patriots decided to stand pat. 

In the end, the Patriots traded away defensive lineman Keion White to the San Francisco 49ers and safety Kyle Dugger to the Pittsburgh Steelers, electing not to add to the team via trade. 

League rumors linked New England to multiple players around the league, including Miami Dolphins pass rusher Jaelan Phillips and New York Jets running back Breece Hall, but it didn’t seem to want to part with any of its draft capital. 

“I would say that deals are like being pregnant,” head coach Mike Vrabel said. “You either are or you aren't. There's no like it's either a deal or it's not. So I don't know how close you can be.” 

Vrabel explained that although the team didn’t make any moves, it wasn’t from a lack of effort to do so.

“I know that everyone worked hard, that we investigated and looked in and made phone calls,” Vrabel said. “And in the end, we decided that this was what we were going to do, and decided to move forward with our preparation.”

While New England remained quiet, the rest of the league did not. The Jets had a fire sale, sending Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts for two first-round picks and Quinnen Williams to the Dallas Cowboys for another first rounder. 

There are thoughts that the Patriots avoided making a big splash in order to conserve their draft capital and stick to a longer term plan that Vrabel and Co. had coming in last winter. 

Vrabel sees it differently. 

“I never really looked at it that way,” Vrabel said. “I think we're trying to build a program, the same thing that we said when we got here, and I think that's part of building a program is finding ways to win, building a team and figuring out where the pieces are that we can continue to add. That would make sense.” 

Despite not adding any talent to the roster, Vrabel doesn’t view the deadline as a failure. 

“I don't think this is a negative,” Vrabel said. “This is just where we're at.  I know they worked extremely hard to make calls and have conversations, and in the end, we didn't do anything.” 

As for if New England should have capitalized on what appears to be a weaker AFC, much like the Washington Commanders in 2024, Vrabel is just focused on winning this week. 

“Winning is the most important thing,” Vrabel said. “For us to sit here and think that anything is wide open and talk about playoffs, like we're focusing on our 10th game in a row, that's what we're focused on. 

“We're just going to keep focusing on what's in front of us.”