Tom Brady and Bill Belichick aren’t the only former New England Patriots in NFL media. And as the organization tries to recover from the end of the dynasty those two birthed, ESPN’s Tedy Bruschi is looking to his former teammate to solve its problems.
Speaking on a postseason preview edition of Sunday NFL Countdown on Saturday morning, Bruschi highlighted how the Patriots are “a mess” right now and why Mike Vrabel is the man to fix them.
“I gotta say something about my former team the New England Patriots, who have been absolutely a mess the last couple years in how they’ve handled things,” Bruschi said. “The only way to fix this is to hire Mike Vrabel, I’m telling you right now. A coach that can come in there and doesn’t just lead men, but can lead football players. Knows how to reach football players and deal with that ownership, fix the organization.”
The comments from Bruschi follow a rant from Rob Gronkowski on Fox NFL Sunday during Week 18 calling the Patriots’ handling of the outgoing Jerod Mayo “unfair.”
“He never had the chance to develop as a head coach,” the retired All-Pro tight end said before later getting cut off for a commercial break.
Speaking on The Pat McAfee Show after Week 18, Belichick was critical of owner Robert Kraft while distancing himself from the organization that fired him a year ago.
It’s been a while since he was part of the New England organization, but credit to Bruschi for coming out strongly. It helps that the top candidate for the job is Bruschi’s former teammate, but the pressure is on New England now.
Add in the McCourty brothers, Julian Edelman, Rodney Harrison and Damien Woody, and the Patriots can’t hide from the noise around the mess they’ve created since Brady and later Belichick left.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.