How washcloths played a role in Mike Vrabel changing Patriots' culture

Even before the New England Patriots punched their ticket for a Super Bowl LX showdown with the Seattle Seahawks, players and reporters detailed how head coach Mike Vrabel positively changed the Patriots' culture less than a year after he was hired. 

For a lengthy piece published Thursday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated expanded on that particular storyline. 

Mike Vrabel set the standard for the Patriots beyond winning and losing

Per Breer, Patriots equipment manager Preston "Stick" Rogers informed Vrabel during the season that "players had been coming out of the showers and throwing their washcloths on the floor rather than in the laundry bin." Vrabel made it clear such actions wouldn't be tolerated under his watch. 

"I said, 'I can get that fixed quick,'" Vrabel told Breer. "I told the team, 'Every washcloth that’s on the floor, I’ve told Stick to just throw in the dryer and put back on the shelf, and then you guys can use them, and you can decide whether they’ve been used and not cleaned and just been dried.' We haven’t had an issue with the washcloths ever since."

As Nick Shook of the NFL's website shared, linebacker Harold Landry suggested during the "Super Bowl LX Opening Night" festivities that Vrabel's reaction was just one way the coach set the "standard" and "culture" for a team that missed the playoffs four times in five years before his hiring. Landry also noted that "guys have a lot of respect for [Vrabel] because he's been here and done it as a player."

Vrabel earned three Super Bowl rings playing for the Patriots from 2001 through the 2008 season.

The washcloths were only the beginning

Per Chris Mason of MassLive, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye revealed on Thursday that Vrabel insisted ahead of Super Bowl week that his players be respectful of security staff members who are tasked with doing difficult jobs at team hotels and the practice facility. 

"I know a lot of us probably have short tempers and saying, 'Hey, we play on the team, why do we need a badge around here?'" Maye explained. "But in one of the first meetings, [Vrabel] said, 'Hey, we should have no problems with showing our badges. Everybody’s got to do it.' Just little things like that, that go a long way of treating other people right, and Coach Vrabel is the best at it. Just giving people credit in the facility that do extra work, trying to give a $100 here, $100 there. Coach Vrabel always says it works out in the long run and it’s bigger for them and how much they do for us."

Such stories may not help the Patriots earn an upset win over the Seahawks this coming Sunday (DraftKings had New England as a 4.5-point underdog on Friday morning). However, they do show why many within the NFL community believe Vrabel could be on the verge of building the second Patriots dynasty of the 2000s.