Mike Vrabel wasn't able to lead the Patriots to a win in his debut as the team's head coach on Sunday, as they fell at home to the Raiders, 20-13. Less than 24 hours after the defeat he found himself talking once again about Bill Belichick and the former Patriots coach's decision to not allow any of New England's scouts inside North Carolina's facilities or games.
"It's clear that I'm not welcome there, around their facility," Belichick said on Saturday after the Tar Heels beat Charlotte for their first win of the season. "And so they're not welcome at ours. It's pretty simple."
Vrabel addressed those comments during his weekly Monday morning appearance on Boston sports radio station WEEI.
"Bill came back for, to the best of my knowledge, [to] Tom's ceremony," Vrabel said. Belichick was not only in attendance at Tom Brady's team Hall of Fame ceremony at Gillette Stadium in June 2024 but he also gave a speech. "So I guess he's welcomed back based on the fact he was there.
"I'll just go by that —since his departure as the head coach here, he's been back. I'll leave it at that."
#Patriots HC Mike Vrabel on Bill Belichick banning Patriots scouts because he isn’t welcome at the facility:
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) September 8, 2025
Vrabel noted Belichick was at Tom Brady’s jersey retirement ceremony last year — “so I guess he’s welcome back based on the fact that he was there.”
(via @Patriots YT) https://t.co/npbeKciadB pic.twitter.com/3PuUonEK00
This seems to be a pretty petty move by Belichick, who is supposed to be helping his UNC players not only win games in college, but also giving them the best chance to be seen by NFL teams so they can take the next step in their careers after college.
Vrabel has bigger things to be concerned about after Sunday's game, so we'll have to see if this situation dies down for a bit or if it just completely goes away.
While Belichick might think he's sticking it to his former team, it seems like he's really just hurting his current players, which is not a good look at all for the legendary coach.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Mike Vrabel Had Good Point About Bill Belichick’s Petty Move Banning Patriots Scouts .
