Mike Vrabel reveals Patriots' pass-rusher plans amid trade, free-agency rumors

On paper, the New England Patriots are among the teams that potentially could use an upgrade at pass-rusher before the 2026 NFL season gets underway. 

While speaking with reporters on Thursday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel addressed whether or not the reigning AFC champions could make a big-name addition at the position this summer. 

Patriots have "a good group" of pass-rushers?

"That's a good group," Vrabel said about New England's edge-rushers, per Aaliyan Mohammed of NESN. "I'm excited about adding [Dre'Mont Jones], the development of [Elijah Ponder] and [Bradyn Swinson], added [Jesse Luketa] and some young guys... That group has done a nice job." 

Kayvon Thibodeaux of the New York Giants and Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders are two pass-rushers who have been the subjects of trade rumors and have been linked by some with the Patriots over the past handful of months. That said, recent reports have indicated that neither Thibodeaux nor Crosby is going anywhere anytime soon.

For his latest mailbag, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated hinted that he doesn't expect any major trades to take place before Week 1 of the upcoming season arrives. 

As Chris Mason of MassLive pointed out, Jadeveon Clowney and Joey Bosa are two proven commodities who are free agents and potentially could be on the Patriots' radar. Interestingly, Garrett Podell of CBS Sports recently linked both of those players with the San Francisco 49ers. Of course, Bosa's brother (Nick Bosa) features for the Niners. 

When could the Patriots decide on adding a pass-rusher?

“Again," Vrabel added during his comments, "we’ll continue to look at it. We’ll have to see where we’re at numbers-wise when we get into training camp, but just how many guys you can rep based on the practices." 

As Mason noted, "Vrabel made it sound like if there’s an edge-rusher signing, it’ll be a bottom-of-the-roster type needed to keep summer sessions functional." 

Thus, New England fans hoping the team will make a big move regarding that portion of the roster may have to wait until the November trade deadline gets closer to see who is and isn't available at that time.