Amid the New England Patriots' 1–2 start to the 2026 season, there's been rumors started by "The Greg Hill Show" circulating that coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye haven't been seeing eye-to-eye. When responding to the rumored beef, Maye, who leads the league with seven turnovers, had only good things to say about his head coach. "Coach Vrabel's been one of the best football coaches I've had in my life," Maye said on Wednesday, via Boston Herald's Doug Kyed.
"I think one of the biggest things why this has been so enjoyable for me is playing for coach, and I think we all feel that way in the locker room. I love playing for him, and it's not going to change, and it hasn't changed, and it won't change. The way he pushes me and coaches the quarterback in a way that I really respect, and I'm looking forward to getting going and proving to coach that we can, I can lead this football team and play good football." Maye's response follows Vrabel's from earlier on Wednesday.
The coach squashed the rumors by praising his quarterback in just a few sentences. "Let me just tell you why I'm here. I'm here because Drake was the quarterback.
Believe it or not, I had choices to where I wanted to coach and I wanted to coach here because Drake was the quarterback," Vrabel said. The coach–quarterback duo's only competing for their second season together, so the two are still adjusting to each other. In their first year together, the Patriots went to the Super Bowl, so of course the expectations for this season are high.
The Patriots aren't used to having this many struggles so early in the season, but hopefully the rumors added to a wake-up call Vrabel and Maye desperately need right now. We'll see if the Patriots can redeem themselves from last Sunday's embarrassing 35–6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. But, that redemption may take a while as New England is set to face the Buffalo Bills, another strong offensive team, on Sunday.
The rumors likely won't fully settle until the Patriots start winning some games.
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