Mike Vrabel’s belief in old favorite Harold Landry III paid off handsomely for the New England Patriots in 2025, but the reigning AFC champions are urged to move last season’s team leader in sacks into a new role to maintain the strength of one of the NFL’s toughest defenses.
Landry’s potential switch was outlined by JP Acosta of CBS Sports during an appearance on ‘The Mina Kimes Show.’ Acosta told Kimes, the Patriots “are putting a lot of chips into the Harold Landry board, or in the Harold Landry table. I’m not sure if I’m as confident he’s going to return to 100 percent.”
Referencing the lingering knee injury that slowed Landry down during the business end of the campaign is telling. He missed the final three games of the regular season before failing to register a sack across as many playoff contests, per Pro Football Reference.
This decline in production prompts serious doubts about whether one of Vrabel’s key players from his days with the Tennessee Titans can still handle a starting role. Fortunately, Acosta has a solution, but it depends on whether Landry “can just give you some form of juice off the edge, you have these two guys who can win, Jones and Jacas, who can push pockets and funnel quarterbacks to Milton Williams and Christian Barmore and then you can just allow for Harold Landry to come on in spots.”
Making Landry a situational pass-rusher is a smart way for the Patriots to continue tapping into the 30-year-old’s core skills. Keeping Landry fresh to do what he does best can also help ease some of the remaining concerns about the Pats’ overall edge-rusher rotation.
Harold Landry Plan Would Answer One Question for Patriots
Landry’s uncertain status moving forward is just one more question the Pats have to answer about their edge-rushers. Vrabel and de facto general manager Eliot Wolf did try to answer some of those questions by spending big to acquire Dre’Mont Jones in free agency.
They also used a second-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft to select Gabe Jacas, but doubts still persist over whether enough has been done to replace Landry’s bookend from last season, K’Lavon Chaisson.
Losing Chaisson to the Washington Commanders was supposed to be offset by making Jacas the 55th player taken in this year’s draft. Unfortunately, the former Illinois stud still remains unsigned, with his absence only becoming a more awkward talking point.
Vrabel can handle the Jacas situation by pivoting to one of his career-long trends. Namely, trusting Landry to carry the load.
It worked for Vrabel during the best part of six seasons in Tennessee, and Landry didn’t let his coach down last season in New England. Not with plays like this sack of Geno Smith against the Las Vegas Raiders from Week 1.
Giving Landry a streamlined, but more concentrated workload is how Vrabel and new defensive coordinator Zak Kuhr get more juice from the seasoned quarterback hunter. Landry remains a disruptive technician, one who has a natural rapport with Williams and Barmore to create a ton of stunts, twists and games to puncture the pass-pocket.
Letting Landry limit using his know-how to obvious passing situations would also give the Patriots intriguing options. Including taking a proven commodity off what’s left of the veteran market or trusting one of two promising young edge defenders to elevate their respective games.
Mike Vrabel Still Has Options at Edge-Rusher
Vrabel and the Pats don’t need to sit idle while they’re waiting for Jacas to agree terms. Not when a former AFC East rival with a strong pedigree as a multiple Pro Bowler is still available.
There’s also Za’Darius Smith, a three-time Pro Bowler named by the Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed as a viable candidate because of his strong connections to Vrabel and his staff. Kyed pointed out “Smith played under Patriots OLB coach Mike Smith with the Packers and Vikings. Was also on the Browns when Mike Vrabel was a coaching and personnel consultant in 2024.”
Smith is still an able game-wrecker, but perhaps the Patriots don’t need to raid free agency. Maybe Vrabel and Kuhr give more playing time to a pair of second-year pros.
Smith says Elijah Ponder has “done some kind of freaky stuff the spring around the edge, the top of his rush that you’re like, ‘Oh, wow, that’s pretty nice to see,” per MassLive.com’s Mark Daniels. Ponder is joined by 2025 fifth-round pick Bradyn Swinson, who has long been considered a sleeper talent.
The Patriots can mix and match players at the edges of their front seven, but smarter usage plans for key players like Landry will also be important for ensuring the position doesn’t become a weakness.
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