Patriots front-office VP deflects on Mike Vrabel's Day 3 draft involvement

Andrew Callahan, Boston Herald on Apr 25, 2026

Published in Football

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Despite stepping away to be with his family, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel said he would be available to the front office as it finished assembling the team’s 2026 draft class Saturday.

According to ESPN, the team had “constant communication” with Vrabel during the draft’s final rounds. But speaking at the start of the seventh round Saturday, vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden declined to go into any specifics about Vrabel’s contributions.

“Obviously it’s public knowledge that Mike was not going to be here today, that’s been stated. And as far as his interactions, I think that’s part of the stuff that we would keep (internally) about how today operated,” Cowden said. “But we were fully confident that, with all the work that we’ve done and and all the preparation that he’s aided in throughout today, we knew (we) would be able to operate in a manner that we can help build his vision for this football team.'”

As part of that vision, the Patriots opened Day 3 by padding their depth at positions of need: cornerback, offensive tackle and linebacker. Cowden broke down each of their initial picks before returning to the warm room.

“Really intriguing to us with his length, speed. He’s an aggressive player,” Cowden said of fifth-round rookie cornerback Karon Prunty. “We’re excited to bring his skillset at perimeter corner.”

As for Texas A&M offensive tackle Dametrious Crownover, Cowden said: “Massive individual. (He’s) got great length, has some natural pass pro ability. … We think he can contribute on both sides of the tackle position.”

To finish the sixth round, the Patriots selected TCU linebacker Namdi Obiazor.

“Really good testing numbers,” Cowden said. “Our special teams coaches took a look and had a lot of positives to say about Namdi’s projections as a special teams player.”

After Thursday night’s first round, Eliot Wolf expressed confidence his front office would be able to operate without Vrabel, while acknowledging the head coach would be missed when it came time to pitch undrafted free agents.

“The stability of him as a person, some of the leadership, some of the presence. He does a nice job for us with the undrafted players,” Wolf said. “Obviously, he’s a tremendous recruiter, so that’s maybe something that we’ll be missing. But again, we’re very confident in the people we have with the process.”