![\"Bill](\"https:\/\/nesn.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/01\/Drake_Maye_2648fb.jpg\")
<\/p>\nMike Vrabel kept it simple when asked at his introductory press conference earlier this week what type of players he wanted on the New England Patriots.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cEliot (Wolf) is going to laugh. I\u2019m going to say good ones,\u201d Vrabel said.<\/p>\n
Well, one Patriots veteran leader is in lockstep with Vrabel\u2019s thinking.<\/p>\n
Cornerback Jonathan Jones, who is an impending free agent but in all likelihood wants to be back with New England for a 10th season, certainly wants the Patriots to be aggressive in adding an influx of talent to the roster this offseason.<\/p>\n
And Jones know where the team should start, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cStarting up front, man,\u201d Jones told the Boston Herald\u2019s Andrew Callahan on the \u201cPats Interference\u201d podcast Friday. \u201cI think at this point our answers are in the public. We were terrible last year.<\/em><\/p>\n There weren\u2019t a lot of bright spots if we\u2019re just being honest. So, it\u2019s going to be a lot of filling in and getting good players in the building.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the first thing, honestly, is getting a lot of good players in the building because there just weren\u2019t (last season).<\/p>\n At times, a lot of guys out there you just say, \u2018This guy\u2019s going to dominate the guy in front of him.\u2019 And so, when that happens, you\u2019re depending a lot on outcoaching people and out-scheming people. This is the National Football League, you\u2019re not going to do that. At some point, you just have to go through another individual.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s got to start with getting good football players up front. Offensive line, defensive line, that\u2019s where the game\u2019s won and lost. The media wants to hype on receivers and skill players \u2014 which are important, I get it. You can have the greatest receivers out there, the quarterback\u2019s on his back, he\u2019s never completing a pass. So, you have to protect him. And vice versa. As a DB, I don\u2019t care how great you are at covering, if the the defensive line aren\u2019t getting any pass rush, your guy\u2019s going to get open. That\u2019s just what football is and we have to start there. I think that\u2019s what the program needs to be built off of.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The Patriots have $130 million in salary cap space this offseason and Jones certainly hopes New England spends big in free agency instead of relying solely on the NFL draft to retool.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the looks of it, if we\u2019re looking to win now and not be patient, it\u2019s hard to say we\u2019ll build through the draft,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI don\u2019t care who you draft, you\u2019re not going to draft enough guys and good enough guys to come out and say, \u2018We\u2019re going to turn the whole season around next year.’\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s not a robust offensive line free agent market this year. Baltimore Ravens tackle Ronnie Staley arguably is the best of the bunch.<\/p>\n Callahan brought up Staley to Jones and while Jones didn\u2019t mention Staley specifically, it seems he would be on board with the Patriots trying to land the veteran lineman.<\/p>\n \u201cFootball starts up front, so we got to get some guys up front,\u201d Jones said…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mike Vrabel kept it simple when asked at his introductory press conference earlier this week what type of players he wanted on the New England Patriots. \u201cEliot… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":27304,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"\n