After the usual amount of winnowing and rationalizing, my title of “Boston-area Person of the Year” comes down to two people, both from the same team: Mike Vrabel and Drake Maye of the Patriots.
It’s tough to pick between the two. Coach Vrabel came to the job with the tougher of the tasks. He had to create a whole new culture for the team. Between the crumbling ashes of the Bill Belichick regime and the byproduct of whatever it was that defined the Jerod Mayo tenure, Vrabel had a vast wasteland of cultural morass to fill. If you’re not careful, filling that space can be treacherous.
On the other hand, Maye’s tasks were a little bit more easily defined. All he had to do was play quarterback and be a leader. Of these, No. 2 was harder, because being a leader in a professional sport means having success on the field while having a positive impact off it.
That is why I’m inclined to go with Vrabel as my Person of the Year. The Patriots were so badly coached, so disorganized, so uninspired, and so inept last year that they only won four games — one of them against a team that wasn’t even trying. In one year, they not only became relevant again, they won their division and contended for the AFC’s top seed for the entire season.
How did Vrabel bring this about? He did it the same way all successful coaches do it. He walked into the Patriots compound overturning festering barrels of garbage as he walked forth. He wasted no time. By the time the Patriots were assembled for their first formal meeting with Vrabel, the parameters were set. If you didn’t do “this,” whatever “this” was, you were not going to be part of this team.
He kept Rhamondre Stevenson on the bench for his chronic fumbling. He benched a player for showing a lack of respect for a team functionary. From the beginning of training camp until now, he kept a team that was anything but focused accountable for its miscues and misdeeds. Fortunately for him, most of the players, if not all of them, bought into what he was selling pretty willingly and there weren’t many problems. No, sir. This was team harmony all season long.
It remains to be seen, however, whether he can maintain that vibe with the Stefon Diggs charges, which were announced Tuesday. That’s the sort of thing that can blow up the Good Ship Lollypop!
Another measure of Vrabel’s success as a coach this season is his team’s ability to rebound from poor performances. The Patriots followed up their disastrous second half against the Buffalo Bills earlier this month with a near flawless game against the Baltimore Ravens. (And make no mistake — the Patriots have always seen Baltimore as the equivalent of Death Valley, and the Ravens as a true nemesis.)
Of course, nobody would be talking about Vrabel were it not for Maye, and this is one of those dynamics that follows all coaches around. Books have been written on the subject.
Maye has had an MVP-caliber season, even if voters for the award choose to go another way. He’s bound to get plenty of love. Without him, the Patriots may be looking at 7-10 or something like it. But while it’s tempting, maybe even fashionable, to look at alternate reality, all we have is what’s out there. The Patriots are 13-3, AFC East champs, and only a poor-to-mediocre Dolphins team keeps them from going 14-3 and vying for the top seed in the AFC.
So, I give you Mike Vrabel. My Person of the Year in the Boston area.
Besides Maye, runners-up include Jaylen Brown for carrying the Celtics to their current status; Morgan Geeke for keeping the Bruins afloat amid significant injury problems; Carles Gil, three-time MVP of the Revolution, and Garrett Crochet, the lefty fireballer of the Red Sox who became the ace and stopper the team has lacked for a half-decade, at least.
A special shoutout also goes to Hilary Knight of the Boston Fleet, who was a finalist for the Billie Jean King MVP Award in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.
Let’s hope in 2026 we have an equal abundance of success and another ample selection from which to choose.
