Editor’s note: Patriots Executive Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf told reporters Saturday that the team was not in contact with Mike Vrabel during Day 3 of the NFL Draft. Read more here.
Mike Vrabel was absent from the Patriots’ facility on Day 3 of the NFL Draft, but ESPN’s Peter Schrager reports the coach stayed in touch with the team.
After Page Six published a number of photographs of Vrabel canoodling with reporter Dianna Russini, he made the decision to attend counseling on Saturday instead of the draft.
“He is away from the team, however I have been told from Patriots sources that they are in constant contact with Vrabel throughout the day,” Schrager said. “He is not drafting with the team here on Day 3, taking some time away to get some counseling and to be with his family where he is taking the priority... No Vrabel in the building, but they do have contact via telephone and text message.”
On a conference call with reporters at the end of the sixth round, VP of player personnel Ryan Cowden said everything had run smoothly in Vrabel’s absence.
“Mike and the organization put out statements about Mike’s situation and our support of Mike,” Cowden said. “I would just say everything we’ve done up to this point, our preparation for the draft, has allowed us to operate in a manner just as normally as we would.”
When pressed about the nature of the team’s communication with Vrabel, Cowden was tight-lipped.
“Obviously it’s public knowledge that Mike was not going to be here today,” Cowden said. “That’s been stated. As far as his interactions, I think that is part of the stuff that we would keep internal in here about how today operated and how we were able to — we were fully confident that with all the work that we’d done and all the preparation that he’s aided in throughout today, that we knew today would be able to operate in a manner that we could help build his vision of this football team."
Vrabel has been mum on specifics regarding the time he was taking away from the team — he didn’t know how long he’d be gone — but lamented mistakes that he’d made.
“I take accountability for my actions and the actions that caused a distraction to the people that I care most about: My family, this football team, the organization and our fans,” Vrabel said on Thursday. “My previous actions don’t meet the standard that I hold myself to. They don’t.”
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