The upcoming 2025 NFL season is set to be a rebuilding year for the six-time Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Since 2019, when legendary quarterback Tom Brady departed the team after 20 years to sign with the Tampa Bay Buccanneers in free agency, the NFL’s most successful franchise has seen a steep fall from grace.
The end of the Patriots dynasty brought a parting of ways with coach Bill Belichick who had been at the helm for all six Super Bowl victories and who drafted Brady in the first place, with the 199th pick in 2000, out of Michigan. In the iconic coach’s final season, the team managed to scrape together just four wins, easily the worst performance by any Belichick team in 29 years as a head coach, including five with the Cleveland Browns from 1991 to 1995.
Belichick’s replacement, former Patriots linebacker, Jerod Mayo was also fired after another 4-13 season. And that led to Mike Vrabel, another former Patriots linebacker, who was also head coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018 through 2023.
Vrabel Spares Nothing to Speed Up Patriots Rebuild
Vrabel has gone all-out in the rebuilding process, remaking the roster with 16 free agent signings, mostly on the defensive side of the ball. On the offensive end, the Patriots have inked wide receiver Stephon Diggs and a backup quarterback, former San Francisco 49er Josh Dobbs — as well as former Buffalo Bills wide receiver Mack Hollins and three offensive linemen.
The signing of Dobbs to a two-year, $8 million contract that was the most curious of the Patriots’ acquisitions because the team did not appear to have a glaring need for a backup quarterback.
They already have Joe Milton III, their sixth-round pick last year, 193rd overall, out of Tennessee. Perhaps the most athletically gifted quarterback in the NFL, Milton has been recorded on video numerous times rocketing 80-yard passes in training sessions, and reportedly did the same for an audience of NFL scouts at Tennessee’s 2024 Pro Day workouts.
In his one outing in 2024, in Week 18 against a Buffalo Bills team consisting mostly of backup players, he displayed his scrambling and running abilities, eluding multiple pass rushers to avoid three of four sack attempts, and running for one touchdown. He also threw for a touchdown and, on one scrambling play, hit wide receiver Kayshon Boutte with a 61.7 mph pass, the second fastest in the history of timed NFL passes.
Vrabel Won’t Close Door of Dealing Milton
As a result — and with the signing of Dobbs — Milton, entering the second year of his four-year, $4.2 million rookie contract has been the subject of almost nonstop trade speculation since the 2024 season ended.
On Monday, Vrabel finally commented on Milton’s status and his evaluation of the 25-year-old signal caller — while refusing to rule out putting Milton on the trade block as part of New England’s rebuild. General speculation has held that Milton could bring back a middle-round draft pick, an asset the Patriots could use as the April 24 opening day off the 2025 draft is now less than month away.
“I think Joe did everything they asked him to do last year. He worked extremely hard,” Vrabel said, speaking at the at the annual NFL owners’ meetings in Palm Beach, as quoted by USA Today PatriotsWire. “And that’s tough when you’re a quarterback. Everybody wants to play. … He was ready for his opportunity there late in the season which I commend him on.”
But will the Patriots trade Milton? Vrabel was not ready to tip his hand, but clearly left the possibility on the table.
“Where that leads to, we’ll see as the draft approaches or where Joe is on April 7th to start our offseason program,” Vrabel said.
