"I love constructive criticism" - Marcus Jones defends Mike Vrabel 30 days after Keion White's 'hard a**' remark about Patriots HC's coaching style

Mike Vrabel will enter his first year as the New England Patriots' coach in the 2025 season. However, there have been some mixed impressions of his coaching style by some of his players.

On Thursday, Boston.com interviewed Patriots cornerback Marcus Jones and asked him about working with Vrabel, while recalling Keion White's "hard a**" remark about the coach.

“I don’t really have a problem with that, though, because I love constructive criticism," Jones said. "I don’t really see it as, like, that from the sense of me. I can understand Keion’s situation because he’s in the trenches and everything like that. At the end of the day, that’s how you’re supposed to be coached. I’ve always had coaches who told me the standard that we needed to be at. It’s coaching.

"I had a military dad, so my situation was a little different. Discipline was always instilled. I’m not saying Keion doesn’t have discipline or anything like that, I’m just saying that coaching is coaching to me. I listen to the message, not the tone.”

Jones is entering his fourth year with the Patriots. He has racked up 102 tackles, three tackles for loss, 17 passes defended, three interceptions and four fumble recoveries so far.

It will be interesting to see how Jones develops under Vrabel next season.

Mike Vrabel won three Super Bowls while playing for the New England Patriots

NFL: New England Patriots HC Mike Vrabel - Source: Imagn

During his playing days as a linebacker, Mike Vrabel won three Super Bowls with the Patriots. He spent eight seasons in New England under Bill Belichick.

Now, Vrabel has returned to the Patriots as a coach and will aim to guide the team back to the top.

Vrabel's previous head coaching job was with the Tennessee Titans from 2018 to 2023. He led the franchise to a 54-45 record in the regular season and a 2-3 record in the playoffs.