Skip to main content
Join Now

Mike Vrabel bloodied breaking up fight at joint Commanders-Patriots practice

by: Alex Byington08/06/25_AlexByington
NFL: New England Patriots Training Camp
Jul 28, 2025; Foxborough, MA, USA; New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel heads to the practice fields for training camp at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Canha-Imagn Images

Joint preseason practices between different NFL teams often come with some pent-up emotions spilling out onto the field, often leading to the occassional in-practice scuffle between players. Of course, rarely does it actually involve a NFL head coach getting involved, let alone coming away bloody from the incident.

At least it did before second-year New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel reportedly put himself into the middle of not one but two fights that broke out during Wednesday’s joint preseason practice with the Washington Commanders. Vrabel, who played 14 seasons in the league — including eight with the Patriots, was seen bleeding from his face after jumping in to break up the second of the aforementioned fights, according to various reports from the practice.

According to the Boston Herald’s Zack Cox, Vrabel “took friendly fire” from Patriots rookie offensive lineman Will Campbell after jumping into a pile of Commanders and Patriots after a Washington defender — Cox suggested it was Von Miller — took offense to being shoved to the ground by New England rookie running back TreVeyon Henderson.

Patriots receiver DeMario “Pop” Douglas said Vrabel reportedly joked: “Hey, you should’ve seen the other guy” when asked about getting bloodied, per Cox.

“That shows a lot,” Douglas said, according to New England Football Journal’s Kevin Stone. “He’ll do anything for us. … That’s love.”

Patriots starting quarterback Drake Maye said another player compared Vrabel’s bloody face to the pictures of President Donald Trump after his July 13, 2024 assassination attempt in Butler County, Pa.

“Yeah, I saw it,” Maye said, according to WEEI. “Somebody said it was like the Trump gunshot wound, so I was laughing at that.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time Vrabel bloodied himself as a coach at practice.

Urban Meyer, Mike Vrabel recall iconic head injury prior to Ohio State interview

Today, Mike Vrabel is the head coach of the New England Patriots, looking to rebuild the franchise to the heights it reached when he was a player there. Of course, he likely wouldn’t be where he is as a coach if he hadn’t begun coaching with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

While at Ohio State, Vrabel coached under Luke Fickell and Urban Meyer. Along the way, he quickly made an impression on Meyer when he injured his head by headbutting players in helmets. That’s something that Meyer remembers to this day and recalled on The Triple Option.

“One quick Mike Vrabel story, is the intensity,” Urban Meyer said. “He’s still damn near a player at this point. Big sucker. So, we’re playing the Wolverines, and you know where I’m going with this, Mike. So, we’re playing the Wolverines in 2012. It’s probably five degrees outside. To get the teams out of their damn mind, and we get out and we’re playing our ass off.”

Ultimately, Vrabel in his second year as a coach at Ohio State, had essentially cut his face open. It needed stitches and bandages, setting an interesting tone for the Buckeyes as they’d go on to beat Michigan 26-21.

“I look over at Mike, he’s got a hat on. Not a hoodie. Like a little stocking cap. His face is like bruised up and he’s got a little mark on his face, right there. I don’t have time. We’re going, we’re coaching. I looked, I said, ‘What the sh*t. What the hell happened here?’ Then, later on, I found out that the players were all headbutting each other before the game and someone got right in the middle of it and his name was Mike Vrabel.”

At that point, Vrabel cut in to break down exactly what happened to him. That included needing six stitches and getting wrapped in gauze before going out to coach The Game.

“It was right here [pointing to the bridge of his nose]. It split me up. I had six stitches and they wrapped like gauze around my head and put a beanie on it. I was like out of it. It was like yellow and dripping in my eyes and stuff.”

— On3’s Dan Morrison contributed to this report.