When Vrabel talks football, you can’t help but perk up and listen. He commands respect, based on 14 years of playing experience, and six years as a head coach.

The Patriots have the cap space to target any free agent available. And the new coach is insinuating he’ll be aggressive in doing so.

Streicher, by the way, is a walking, talking reminder of the Belichickian model. Working for Vrabel in Tennessee, he rose from special assistant to the head coach in 2018 to director of football administration five years later; the same title Belichick’s assistant, Berj Najarian, once held.