After the Patriots finished 4-13 for the second year in a row, the first under Jerod Mayo, however, and after only one season as a head coach, Robert Kraft quickly hired the best head coach candidate available in another former Patriots linebacker with Mike Vrabel.

During the early part of OTAs, there’s been a lot of talk from the team on how much of a “player-coach” he is and how they all seem to enjoy the hands-on approach Vrabel brings as the head coach. It’s also something that the media has noticed as well.

A few players on the team from last year have commented about how the team is being run this year, suggesting that it’s more organized with Vrabel and the players are more understanding of his methods because he’s a former player.

The thing is, Mayo was also a former player and a pretty good one at that. The difference between him and Vrabel as coaches is experience. Mayo was a first-year head coach after years of being a position coach under Bill Belichick. He inherited a declining team and didn’t get too much help from ownership in terms of upgrading the roster.

While Vrabel, on the other hand, has experience as a positional coach in college and worked the reins as a coordinator before becoming a head coach in the NFL for six years. He has experience that Mayo never had working under Bill Belichick and next to his sons, Brian and Steve, as they ran the defense together.

Through the early part of OTAs, Mayo is catching strays from some of his former players while talking to the media.

“A lot of new faces, but we’re rolling. We love playing for Vrabel so far. Great energy, everything you see on TV, that’s exactly what he gets. He put on the little 51 jersey, which I thought was something he did in the past, but he still do it. He always has great energy, always smiling, so I’ve enjoyed it.”

Christian Gonzalez

“It’s great. He’s been a lot of fun, a lot of fun in the building and meeting rooms, he’s been great. Just briefly being on the field with him has been awesome, he was a player so he kind of has that energy like we all do, and now also on the coaching side, he brings a great energy that I think everybody likes.”

Hunter Henry

“The culture different here. I love it. Vrabel’s a players-coach and he’s on the field with us. When you have a head coach that’s on the field with us, it’s different. He’s very intune to what we’re doing and he wants us to be better.”

DeMario Douglas

“Mike Vrabel, man, he’s a guy that I can talk to, a guy that is there for me. … he’s a guy that I really respect because he played the game and he knows how the game goes and I just love talking to him. He picked me up and I really respect that.”

Christian Barmore

The players clearly feel the difference in how a well-organized offseason practice should be run. It was also noticeable how they all said that Vrabel is a “players-coach,” and it stands out because it shows that Mayo wasn’t perceived that way.

It seems like Mayo’s tenure was always going to be as a placeholder after Belichick and until Kraft was able to find someone more qualified, which he did with Vrabel.

It’s worth mentioning that Mayo’s brother, Deron, is still working for the team as the head strength and conditioning coach, a job he had from when Jerod was coaching. Whether it was Vrabel’s decision or Kraft’s, Deron is still on staff in New England.