Mike Vrabel is starting to sound an awful lot like Aaron Rodgers.
The 41-year-old ayahuasca enthusiast was never able to find a plumber in Florham Park to plug the leaks coming out of One Jets Drive, even though he was 100 percent sure a Jets source was leaking to the media. But he never compared those talking to reporters to vermin; he left that to his good friend, Pat McAfee.
And apparently Vrabel, too.
After Thursday’s 42-10 preseason finale loss to the New York Giants, Vrabel was asked about NFL insider Jordan Schultz’s report that Ja’Lynn Polk will miss the entire 2025 season due to a shoulder injury requiring surgery. The son of former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz reported that the 2024 second-round pick consulted multiple specialists, and surgery was determined to be the best course of action, with the goal of being fully healthy by 2026.
Sources: #Patriots WR Ja’Lynn Polk will miss the entire 2025 season due to a shoulder injury that requires surgery.
The 2024 second-round pick saw multiple specialists, and surgery was determined to be the best course of action — with the goal of being fully healthy for 2026. pic.twitter.com/Ee3okqZ7QX
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) August 21, 2025
“No. I don’t know,” Vrabel shot back. “Other than, I’d like to find out where some of these [reports] come from. You know, some of these rats around here. So, we’ll figure that out.”
Vrabel not real pleased with the report that Ja’Lynn Polk is going to have season-ending surgery and won’t comment except to say, “I’d like to find out where some of these come from. You know, some of these rats around here. So, we’ll figure that out.”
— Mike Giardi (@MikeGiardi) August 22, 2025
The irony is that Vrabel might be hunting ghosts. Injury reports like Polk’s typically come from agents, not necessarily anyone trying to undermine the Patriots. But Vrabel’s immediate assumption that someone inside is being a “rat” suggests he’s already developed the same leak paranoia that consumed Rodgers.
And while his issue wasn’t with the media directly this time, it’s still part of a pattern. The new Patriots coach has already shown a Belichickian disdain for the media, treating reporters like hostile combatants rather than people just doing their jobs.
In other words, it hasn’t taken long for Vrabel to embrace not just the Patriot Way, but also the media blackout that accompanies it.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.