Patriots Hall of Fame inductee Vrabel right at home again

“”We made home over there, Easton-Norton,’” Vrabel said after learning of his induction into the Gillette Stadium shrine. “It was just a unique transition. I always laughed about it with Coach (Bill) Cowher, saying, ‘Hey, we can offer you the same amount of money, but what we can’t offer you is the opportunity.’ And the opportunity was to go and earn a starting position, which was something I didn’t have in Pittsburgh or something I wasn’t able to earn in Pittsburgh. And then we kind of grew as a family. It kind of all took off from there and I was able to spend a lot of time up there and meet a lot of great friends and people.”

Vrabel, the former Patriots linebacker and current Tennessee Titans head coach, becomes the 34th inductee into the Patriots Hall of Fame. He will be enshrined along with Plainville resident and long-time offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia, who was selected as a “contributor by a panel of New England media members, past and present.

Vrabel confided that the comments from former Patriot teammates and foes of the honor was the most rewarding aspect of his selection.

“Those are always things that you appreciate coming from a teammate or somebody that you played with,” Vrabel said. “We had a lot of great people and great guys to play next to. Bobby Hamilton or Richard Seymour, or Ty Law or Jarvis Green. Those were guys that I would line up a few feet from for the entire season or multiple seasons, and that was always something that was really cool.”

Vrabel joined the Pirates before the 2001 season, following a four-year career with the Steelers, where he was used primarily on special teams and as a reserve linebacker. During his eight-year tenure in New England, Vrabel helped the Patriots to three Super Bowl championships in four years (2001, 2003 and 2004), starting at both inside and outside linebacker while regularly lining up on offense in short-yardage and goal-line situations, as well as making valuable contributions on special teams units.

“I think the first thing was being there and knowing what to do,” Vrabel said of being an immediate contributor to the Patriot defense. “That was something that was important for me, going in and learning the defense. Ted Johnson was in there and Tedy (Bruschi) and Willie (McGinest) and Roman Phifer was a part of that group that signed in 2001. But really, Ted and Tedy and Willie were the players that taught me what it was like, and I wanted to impress them by how much I knew and what I was able to do on the field. And I was trying to earn their respect by obviously playing well and being able to communicate the defense and talk through things.

“So, that’s what I remember, going into that room and in old Foxboro Stadium, meeting with those guys and really in the spring just trying to earn their respect.”

Vrabel earned Pro Bowl and first-team Associated Press All-Pro honors following the 2007 season and spent eight seasons with the Patriots, where he became a fan favorite with 740 career tackles before retiring and joining the NFL coaching ranks.

“It certainly set me up for a great future, whether that was to be able to transition to Kansas City and help lead or ultimately become a coach,” Vrabel said. “I loved coming to work with the players, and I think that that’s something that I’ll always miss, is what we had in the locker room and I still always want to try to recreate what we did there where the players were the ones that were trying to hold each other accountable, and not in a negative way, but just in a positive way, and how you push guys and how you work and how you want to prepare.

“it’s obviously special being a part of a group that started in 2001 with the number of new players on that roster and kind of grew and built something that we all could be proud of, that we all could fight for,” Vrabel added. “We figured we were going to have to stand in line for a few years that the great players that were there and going up against murderer’s row. It’s just something I don’t think I ever thought of when I went there. I can remember visiting there in 2001, and I would’ve never dreamt that something like this would happen.”