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Patriots' secondary now faces brutal pressure after ESPN's big declaration

Mike Vrabel underwent an NFL team reconstruction this offseason, trying to clean up the messes left by the previous personnel operations. It was a major undertaking as virtually every positional unit on the team needed bolstering.

Vrabel attacked the problem aggressively in free agency. In retrospect, his goals were clear: add playmakers to each level of the defense and virtually every unit on offense, barring the tight end room (though he did add a promising undrafted free agent even there).

The coach needed to improve one area specifically after not re-signing veteran Jonathan Jones, the cornerback position.