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April 19, 2022 at 2:55 pm
By Michael
Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) — We’ve reached the point in Patriots
history where the logjam to get in to the team’s hall of fame is going to start
looking like the line for the men’s room in the 300 sections of Gillette
Stadium at halftime on a Sunday. Such is the result of two decades of outlandish
success.
It’s been that way for a few years, and it’ll be that way
for a long while. This year’s list of final candidates — Vince Wilfork, Logan
Mankins and Mike Vrabel — is evidence of that reality.
And while there’s
certainly no bad choice for this year’s Patriots Hall of Fame, my vote’s going
to Mike Vrabel.
Really, for as long as Bill Belichick thrust his winning
ways on the rest of the NFL, the term “Patriot Way” has carried several
definitions. Chief among them, though, has been Belichick’s ability to find
value and ability where others haven’t. And who could possibly embody that
spirit more than Mike Vrabel?
(OK, Tom Brady is the answer to that question. But we’re
looking at the human-level plane of existence for the time being.)
Despite being a relatively high pick at No. 97 overall in
1997 out of Ohio State, Vrabel never really caught on during his four years
with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He didn’t start any games, averaged fewer than
two sacks per season, and recorded just 56 total tackles across 51 games.
Mike
Vrabel, as member of the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1997 (Photo by George Gojkovich/Getty Images)
Despite Vrabel
getting limited action in Pittsburgh, Belichick liked something about the
linebacker and signed him as a free agent in 2001. It was hardly a move that
generated buzz or headlines, but it ended up being one of the most significant
additions of the entire Belichick tenure.
Vrabel immediately
set career highs in tackles, sacks, interceptions, pass defenses, and tackles
for a loss in his first year, starting 12 games and fitting right in with a
defense that was, in a word, nasty. With that Patriots team reaching the Super Bowl as enormous
underdogs against the St. Louis Rams, Ty Law’s pick-six was the play that made
New England and the rest of the world believe the Patriots actually had a
chance to win the game. On that play, it was Vrabel who was harassing Kurt Warner in the
backfield, forcing the bad decision and leading immediately to the first
Patriots points of the game.
Mike
Vrabel hits Kurt Warner in Super Bowl XXXVI. (Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
It only went up
from there for Vrabel, who upped his tackles and sacks in 2002 before a
ridiculous 2003 season. In his third year in New England, Vrabel recorded 9.5
sacks in just 13 games played
(reminder: he had seven sacks in four years in Pittsburgh).
He
also picked off two passes and recovered a fumble before a postseason where he
had three more sacks, 18 tackles, a pass defense and a forced fumble. Oh, and
he lined up as a tight end and caught a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
A year later, he was steady with 5.5 sacks, and he made
that pass-catching hobby of his a regular thing, catching two passes for two
more touchdowns.
Vrabel remained a consistent contributor over the next
two seasons, sacking the quarterback nine times and also catching three more
touchdowns. But in 2007,
one of the finest regular seasons for any team in NFL history, Vrabel turned in
his own finest season: with 12.5 sacks, 77 tackles, four forced fumbles, 17
quarterback hits, and a couple of touchdown receptions for good measure.
Vrabel had always
been the type of player who was instrumental in winning championships, even if
he didn’t have the Pro Bowl nods or the First Team All-Pro honors to show for
it. That year, though, he got both.
His Patriots career ended after the 2008 season, when he
was sent to Kansas City in the Matt Cassel trade. He’d play just two seasons
with the Chiefs, registering only two sacks in 30 games.
In a place where discovering big-time players in unlikely
places was a hallmark of the championship days, Vrabel fit that bill like no
other.
In a place where
“Do Your Job” became the overriding mantra, nobody was more willing than Vrabel.
And whether doing
his job meant harassing the quarterback or inexplicably getting open in the end
zone for the umpteenth time to haul in a touchdown pass from Tom Brady, Vrabel
was always the man for the moment. After spending five years as a finalist for
this unique honor, his next moment ought to involve a red jacket this summer in
Foxboro.
Unlike
many sports accolades, a media member’s vote doesn’t count any more than a
fan’s vote. And fans can cast their vote for either Mike Vrabel, Vince Wilfork,
or Logan Mankins through May 16 at patriots.com/HOF.
