Mike Vrabel called out Patriots rookie Gabe Jacas on sideline

FOXBOROUGH – Mike Vrabel didn’t like what he saw from his second-round pick on Thursday night.

That’s why the Patriots coach challenged Gabe Jacas on the sideline of the team’s preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts. And it’s why the edge rusher did everything he could to make an impact on special teams.

“I challenged him on a kickoff, and he made a tackle,” Vrabel said. “I didn’t think that his efforts were maybe good enough on the kickoff. I didn’t expect that the guy that was blocking him to be able to block him, and then I challenged him, and he came up with a tackle on the kickoff. So that was a positive.”

Jacas finished with four tackles in his NFL preseason debut. The rookie started on defense as the team’s edge rusher and had a quarterback pressure on a play that resulted in an interception.

What drew Vrabel’s ire, however, was on special teams.

Jacas is a physically imposing player at 6-foot-4, 261 pounds. That’s why the Patriots believe he could make an impact on special teams as well as defense. After watching a roster bubble player block him on special teams, Vrabel didn’t hold back on the sideline.

Jacas said he knew what he had to do.

“He’s just like, ‘I’m tired of seeing you getting blocked,’” Jacas said. “So, I was like, ‘(Expletive), I’m not going to get blocked.’ So that’s what I did. Coach Vrabel demands the best out of his players, so that’s what he did.”

Jacas had his first tackle on special teams in the second quarter on a kickoff return. When the second half started, the rookie’s night was finished on defense. However, he still appeared in the game later, getting a tackle on the punt team.

This spring, the Patriots liked Jacas so much that they traded up in the second round to draft to him. After missing OTAs and minicamp due to a contract dispute, Jacas already looks like he’ll be one of the team’s top rotational edge rushers.

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In his first preseason game, he also learned a valuable lesson about the importance of special teams.

“It’s fun. Just learning a lot on special teams is really important in the NFL,” Jacas said. “It’s important in general, but (Jeremy) Springer, being a special teams coach, like, he pours a lot into his players, and just being out there and making an impact on special teams is really important.”

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