Are New England’s early season struggles leading to HC-QB drama? Sep 30, 2026
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Life comes at you fast in the NFL, and the New England Patriots are learning that in real time. In one minute, you’re the darlings of the league and making a Cinderella run to Super Bowl LX. In the next, the sky comes crashing down with a 1-2 start to the 2026 season with the entire operation looking out of sync, particularly at quarterback.
When losses beginning to pile up, there’s naturally going to be some finger-pointing that goes on, whether it be conscious or subconsciously. All the while, those on the outside looking in try to figure out what has thrown the franchise off-kilter after nearly hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. That leads us to Wednesday morning when WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show” floated out that host Greg Hill and co-host Jermaine Wiggins (a former Patriots tight end) were “whispered to” and told of a possible rift between Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel and quarterback Drake Maye.
“Wiggy and I were whispered to about this,” Hill said, citing information that he and Wiggins were given. “On this very show yesterday, we talked about being whispered to about an issue between the head coach and the quarterback.
… If you believe this individual, who is an insider.
I mean, he’s very much an insider. Despite what Mike Vrabel may have said publicly, it goes back to Drake Maye not being his guy.”
Admittedly, this report feels a little flimsy. It sounds like it’s coming secondhand, with an unnamed “insider” getting some sort of information regarding a possible rift between Vrabel and Maye, telling Hill and Wiggins, and then those two relaying it on the air. It could be a dangerous game of telephone, but it’s certainly noteworthy regardless.
It grew long enough legs that Vrabel was asked about it during his Wednesday press conference. As you might imagine, he categorically shut down any notion of a strained relationship between himself and Maye, acknowledging that he chose to join the Patriots in 2025 because they had Maye at quarterback.
“[Hill] heard it from who? Those are my favorites. Unnamed sources?,” Vrabel said.
“Let me just tell you why I’m here. I’m here because Drake was their quarterback. Believe it or not, I had choices of where I wanted to coach. I wanted to coach here because Drake was the quarterback. I don’t really have much to add other than that about a comment from an unnamed source, but I’ll just tell you what I’ve told numerous people if they want to ask me why I’m here.”
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This isn’t the first time that Vrabel has credited Maye for him joining the Patriots, despite also having a connection to the franchise as a player and winning three Super Bowls with them between 2001 and 2008. Following their Week 11 win over the New York Jets last season, Vrabel told Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” essentially the same thing he said Wednesday.
“I came here because of the familiarity.
I came here because of Drake,” Vrabel said at the time, via MassLive.com. “I knew what he would be, and it was important for me to come here. And that’s someone I wanted to coach. And so building a program is about that. It’s about putting great people around your really good players.
That’s what Drake is for us.”
Of course, a key reason why all these “reports” are bubbling to the surface at the moment is not only because the Patriots are off to a 1-2 start, but also because Maye has regressed dramatically from his runner-up MVP season. Through three games, Maye leads the NFL in turnovers (7) and has a league-worst 58.6 passer rating (min. 75 attempts).
Those miscues would frustrate any coach wanting to win, but it creating a chasm this quickly feels premature.
Whether the unnamed source that fed “The Greg Hill Show” is right or not, it’ll be fascinating to listen to Vrabel’s interaction with the show next Monday morning following New England’s Week 4 matchup in Buffalo for his weekly hit.
