The two-time Super Bowl champion discusses the Patriots hiring Mike Vrabel, the Chiefs’ pursuit of a three-peat and the upcoming NFL Draft.
Rob Ninkovich he would not rule out his former coach, Bill Belichick, walking away from the University of North Carolina to take the Dallas Cowboys head coaching vacancy.
Belichick was recently appointed head coach of UNC but reportedly has a $10m buyout clause in his contract that could enable him to take an NFL job.
In our wide-ranging exclusive interview, two-time Super Bowl champion Ninkovich also discusses the New England Patriots’ appointment of Mike Vrabel as their head coach, Travis Hunter’s ideal position and whether the Kansas City Chiefs – the second-favourites in the NFL betting to win the Super Bowl – would surpass the Patriots dynasty by pulling off a three-peat.
What was your reaction to the news of the Patriots hiring Mike Vrabel to be their head coach?
I wasn’t surprised that they went with Vrabel, with the experience that he has as a previous head coach and with playing for the Patriots and being a bit part of the dynasty. He was probably the best option when it came to the coaches available right now, with the relationship that Vrabel had with the Krafts.
Coming back for the induction to the Patriots’ Hall of Fame, he said that it was great to be back and he hadn’t been back in a long time, and that it’s not like New England in other places.
I think with the cap space, the fourth overall draft pick that they have and Drake Maye, there is a lot of opportunity here for Vrabel to take advantage of.
You joined the Patriots as a player just after Vrabel had left. Did you feel pressure to replace him?
Definitely. In 2009, when I got to the Patriots, they had given me No. 45 in training camp, which is an ugly number as a linebacker. I wasn’t guaranteed anything at that point, I was just a guy that was trying to make a team and contribute to help the team win. When I made the team, I walked in the locker room and they had given me No. 50, so I knew it was a big shoes to fill.
I motivated myself to try and represent the number in similar fashion to what it had been represented in the eight years by Mike Vrabel before I had gotten there. I definitely felt that I had a lot to accomplish to even compare close to what he did, and I feel like over 16 years, the Patriot fans had a pretty good run with that No. 50.
Why did it not work out with Jerod Mayo?
When you take over after Bill Belichick, that’s always going to be difficult. That’s like being Cam Newton after Tom Brady.
The second challenge was the coaching staff. It was hard to get certain coaches to come here because there wasn’t a quarterback in place. I think they interviewed 12 offensive coordinators.
Before they drafted Drake Maye, you look at the roster and they didn’t have a quarterback, they didn’t have an offensive line, they didn’t have a true No. 1 receiver. If you’re an OC, you don’t want to that on your resume while not having the pieces to show anything.
The lack of spending in free agency – they didn’t bring in any talent. They tried to get Brandon Aiyuk but he didn’t want to come here. On top of that you have the Boston media. They’re brutal, they’re going to take everything that you say and dissect it.
In years past, Bill didn’t say anything. He’s not going to talk much, he’s going to give you two-word responses. I think Mayo was more comfortable being more open, but in the end that was a part of his demise.
I don’t think it was fair for Jerrod to only have 11 months in the building, but because he’s the head coach, he had to fall on the sword.
After Mayo, do you think the Patriots ever considered opting for a coach with no connection to New England, like Ben Johnson, rather than another former player from the Belichick era?
I think it’s human nature to stick with what you know. I do think that with Jerod there was a different approach to the way that that he was going about building a roster, creating the team and that atmosphere versus what we had in the past. I’m not sure what Vrabel’s going to be like, but I assume that he’s very close to how Bill was.
I think that the whole ‘Patriot Way’ slogan is really just accountability and making sure that you put the team first. When you get a group of guys that are able to win Super Bowls – and that’s one thing Vrabel understands – they’re special.
I go back to 2009, that was the year the Patriots didn’t have that chemistry, didn’t have the team, and there’s a classic moment when we were in New Orleans and we got beat up pretty good by the Saints, and Bill said to Tom Brady “I just can’t get this team to go in the right direction.”
That was the time between 2009 and 2010 where they had that massive haul in the draft and they brought in a ton of talent – Devin McCourty, Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski.
To win the Kentucky Derby, you’ve got to have the fastest horse. They have got to start from the bottom, the basement, the foundation, and work their way up to maximize this roster and get more talent on this team.
How far away is this roster from contending?
They have got a lot of gaps right now. Football is not just a ‘one position away’ type of game. You need the offensive line to protect the quarterback, you need the running game to protect the quarterback, you need receivers that can win one-on-one matchups and protect the quarterback.
The true measure of a team’s toughness is their offensive and defensive line. That’s where the games are won and lost. The trenches are really where you can establish your physical dominance, a mindset and how you’re going to conduct business.
I think the number of needs right now is pretty vast if they want instant success, but in Drake Maye they have the quarterback, so that’s a big plus.
You have the fourth overall pick – do you look for the best available tackle? Do you bring in a guy like Maxx Crosby? You can move down and try to grab talent that you can use instantly, and also pick something up that’s going to help your team for the next six to eight years.
This is probably the most important draft that the Patriots will have since I can remember.
Last year, anybody could have picked Drake Maye with that pick. He was basically who you had to take. Moving forward, who’s calling the shots? Who’s bringing in the talent? Who’s making the draft picks? Who’s paying the free agents? They have $130m in cap space.
Those are all big questions where if they get them right, they’re moving in the right direction to help in this rebuild. If they don’t, they’re going to be stuck in that same hamster wheel of mediocrity.
What’s the No. 1 need for the Patriots this offseason?
The No. 1 need is a tackle to protect your starting quarterback’s blind side. I think that’s huge. Right now, the league is all about getting to the quarterback and protecting the quarterback.
With the fourth overall pick, it depends on Travis Hunter. We know Tennessee need a quarterback, but do they go with Hunter? If he was around at No. 4, which I it’s not guaranteed that he is, you would have an instant, big-time playmaker.
I wouldn’t play him full time both ways – that’s crazy. But I would contemplate putting him at corner in certain packages, third down situations where you have him and Christian Gonzalez shoring up the edges on your passing plays. That would be a pretty cool 1-2 punch.
I would still go out and use my money in free agency to get a guy like Tee Higgins. Then you have got two big-time receivers on offense that your quarterback can dissect defenses with.
Then you also have a bunch of money to go and get a veteran tackle. When drafting an offensive lineman, it’s so hard to evaluate and then you also need some great coaching. The skill positions are so advanced now, they have all these receiver camps and passing camps.
I think it’s hard to win on a pick with a lineman, versus a top receiver.
Tyreek Hill suggested he wants out of Miami. Could the Patriots make a big move for him, as they did for Randy Moss and Antonio Brown in the past?
I wouldn’t say that’s never going to happen. I think Tyreek Hill, from what Josh McDaniel said, might be a guy that needs a head coach like Mike Vrabel, somebody that’s going to stay on top of him, that’s going to say, “I don’t care what you’ve done in the past, you’re going to go out and perform, and you’re going to be on time, and we’re not going to coddle you.”
I think down in Miami, maybe there was some of that coddling where he wasn’t on time.
I think if you’re going to trade for Tyreek Hill, you have to make sure you have a coach that can stay on top of him and make sure that he’s doing all the right things.
How would you redraft the top three quarterbacks from last year’s rookie class?
Looking at Drake Maye and Caleb Williams, I try to read people’s body mannerisms, how they deal with hard times, how they deal with bad situations. I think Drake did a great job this year with taking accountability, starting with himself. I thought his interviews were very responsible for a young football player, a guy that’s 21 years old, basically a baby. I think he was impressive post-game, even when things weren’t going his way.
I think that there would definitely be a different draft order if it was all to be done again. If people knew what they knew now, maybe Williams doesn’t go No. 1 overall.
It’s hard to compare Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye based on their teams and their coaching. I think the Commanders did a great job getting an offensive mind in Kliff Kingsbury. The only question is, when you do that, how many years of success do you have until he takes off and has another opportunity? With a younger offensive coordinator, similar to Josh McDaniels, he’s going to get another chance of being a head coach. You have to make sure that you have a good succession plan. We’ve seen time and time again, a team has a good offensive coordinator, they go and take a head coaching job and then their offense struggles.
Both Drake and Jayden have similar ability when it comes to movement. They have very strong arms. You’re a better team for having either of those players.
The only thing that I can see where Drake Maye has some more upside is how young he is, and he hasn’t had any damage. He’s never had any knee injuries or any real problems, so you would anticipate he’s got a little bit more durability and the upside of his frame filling out a little bit more as he gets older.
What is Drake Maye’s ceiling? Could he live up to the Josh Allen comparisons?
I think that that’s a great comparable. Allen is a bigger guy, he probably has 15 lbs on Maye, but if you go back and you watched Allen’s rookie year, he was making a lot of mistakes, throwing the ball into coverage, turnovers in the red zone. He’s grown, he’s matured and he’s really come a long way.
If you look at Drake Maye and you’re able to grow and do things similar to Josh Allen, I think they’re going to be very comparable when it comes to production.
There have been rumours that Bill Belichick could be tempted to leave UNC for the NFL – do you think that’s a possibility?
I’m never going to say never. There’s always going to be certain situations or amounts of money that can influence somebody’s decision to stay or move on. I don’t know the dynamics of the contract situation, I know there’s a $10m buyout which becomes $1m after 1 June. In the past there was a situation where he was a head coach for one day and then moved on to New England, so I would never say that that couldn’t happen again, that’s for sure.
Which coaching vacancy would be a good fit for Belichick?
If you’re an experienced guy like Bill and you look at the Cowboys, that would be a very enticing situation. It’s the Dallas Cowboys, they’re America’s team, the history. You have a receiver, you’ve got a crazy pass rusher, and you have the ability to come in and potentially just use your knowledge to maximize the potential of the team.
Of all the teams, I think Dallas would be the most interesting and enticing team to go to.
Could Tom Brady lure Belichick to Las Vegas?
The difficult part is that they don’t have a court. There are some big question marks there. Bill is so close to getting that record, and if you’re in that situation, you’re looking at who gives you the best roster to go and win now.
That’s how I would look at it, and I don’t know if Vegas is that right now.
What are your thoughts on Brady’s first year in the commentary booth, and how he’s going to juggle that with being a minority owner of the Raiders?
I think Tom’s going to be similar to what he was as a player – he’s going to have elite focus on trying to be the best at what he does. There were a lot of people who were very critical of how he was on television, but I think that he’s done a great job progressing this year.
I listen to him every week, and I think you hear the improvement every single week. Anything that Tom does, he’s going to approach it like he did football. He’s going to go full blast and he’s going to give it everything he’s got. If that’s helping him decide who the next head coach is in Vegas or working on his broadcasting, I know that he’s going to approach it like he did his Hall of Fame football career.
Can anyone stop Kansas City, and are the Chiefs closing in on the Patriots’ dynasty if they win another Super Bowl?
If they go back-to-back-to-back, that would be amazing. I think the Achilles heel for Kansas City this year would be some of the red zone inefficiencies. Their offense isn’t as potent as it was. Their defence is playing really well, but they love the blitz, they love to bring the house, so if you have the ability to get the ball on the edge and out of the quarterback’s hands quick, that’s your best of their best chance of beating Kansas City.
If they were able to go back and win a Super Bowl, I think that would put them right with our Patriots dynasty as far as dominance goes.
Who would get your vote for MVP?
Joe Burrow. I’m a huge Joe Burrow fan because my wife went to LSU. I think what he was able to do, he really put on a show. I know he’s got crazy talent at receiver but my two would be Burrow or Lamar.
I do think that in terms of just pure arm talent, Burrow was very impressive because he basically had to rely on him or nothing. The Ravens have done a great job bringing in some pieces that can help Lamar be a better quarterback.
Sean Payton once said his biggest regret was letting you leave New Orleans twice. What do you think of him as a coach, and the job he has done in Denver?
I think Sean is a terrific coach. His knowledge of the game is unbelievable. His ability to be both an offensive coordinator and a head coach is the most impressive thing. There are a lot head coaches who just control the offensive coaches or defensive coaches, similar to what Bill Belichick did. But you see Sean with his glasses on, calling the plays, and it’s challenging with a rookie quarterback.
I always think about the what ifs, if I didn’t have the bump in the road in New Orleans tearing my knee up. But that’s the NFL, and I don’t have any negative feelings towards Sean with how that whole thing went down. I know it was just the business – when you’re not healthy, you can’t make a team.
I came here to New England and I was able to play a long time and help win a bunch of Super Bowls, and it all just comes with having an opportunity.
If I would have had that opportunity with the Saints, I think I would have stuck around there for a long time too. It just was unfortunate that I had those injuries.
What Sean has been able to do in Denver is a reflection of his leadership, his vision, and with a rookie quarterback in progression, they’re going to be a really good football team in the foreseeable future.
Have you ever considered going into coaching?
It’s something I’ve thought about. Sean Payton has contacted me a couple times about working together. One opportunity was with the Saints, and when you have young kids, it’s really difficult to jump into that profession because of the time commitment and the potential for movement. When Sean was in Denver, another opportunity popped up for me, and again you have to make sure that everybody’s on the same page because we’re going to do this, we’re going to be all in.
I did coach high school football last year, which was great. I definitely miss the game, but at the professional level, you understand that it’s all about wins and production.
If you’re not winning, you’re always at the mercy of potentially having to be released and to find a new place for your kids to go to school.
Those are all big deals that you have to be willing to sacrifice if you’re going to dive into the coaching world, and that’s another reason I feel so terrible for Jerod Mayo and the whole staff. They are moving their whole families, they get into a new school, they’re there 11 months and then now they’re looking for another place.