Things are looking up at the current moment for the New England Patriots, who picked up a narrow road win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday to move to 4-2. While a puzzling loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, combined with a very easy strength of schedule thus far, have had some urging caution about New England's hot start, there is still clearly a lot to be excited about with quarterback Drake Maye.
Needless to say, the Patriots have gotten off to a successful start to the Mike Vrabel era, and earlier this week, a transaction was announced that should make the former Tennessee Titans coach happy.
“The #Patriots are signing former #Titans TE Thomas Odukoya to their practice squad, per source. A reunion for the Dutch tight end with Mike Vrabel ahead of Sunday's visit to Tennessee,” reported NFL insider Tom Pelissero on X, formerly Twitter.
Odukoya spent the last several years as a member of the Titans organization before being waived earlier this week. It remains to be seen how big of a role, if any, he will see with the Patriots, but it will still be nice for him and Vrabel to reconnect.
The Patriots also made another move on Thursday.
“The #Patriots are also signing former #Jets DT Leonard Taylor to the practice squad,” reported Pelissero.
A nice start for the Patriots
Coming into this year, many felt that the New England Patriots could be a sleeper playoff team considering their remarkably easy strength of schedule, and thus far, they are on pace to do just that. They also picked up an impressive win over the Buffalo Bills sandwiched in between victories over the league's cellar dwellers, with Stefon Diggs coming back to torch his former team in the process.
Vrabel seems to have the full respect of the locker room, and the Patriots' defense continues to play well despite frequent injury concerns for Christian Gonzalez, arguably their best player on that side of the ball.
If Maye can continue to improve, there's no reason why the Patriots shouldn't be able to secure at least a Wild Card spot in a weakened AFC race.
