A reporter asked Mike Vrabel if he’d get a chance to catch up with Tom Brady this weekend. The Patriots coach answered like someone had asked him about a meeting on his calendar.

Brady is on his way back to Gillette Stadium to call Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers for Fox. For some Patriots fans, Vrabel’s dry answer was exactly what they expected from their head coach. Others wondered why a question about two former teammates catching up sounded so awkward.

Mike Vrabel’s Tom Brady Answer Splits Patriots Fans

“I think I’m required contractually to catch up with him at some point,”Vrabel said at his Wednesday press conference. He said he expected the broadcast meeting to happen over Zoom, and added that he figured he would see Brady at Rob Gronkowski’s Patriots Hall of Fame induction on Saturday.

“Love my Head Coach man… y’all will never make me turn on him,”one fan wrote after learning of Vrabel’s remarks.

“What a weird answer man, why does everything surrounding Brady and the Patriots have to be so weird in regards to both parties?”another fan asked.

A third viewer put the question more directly. “Why is Vrabel like this towards Brady? I don’t get it,”the viewer wrote.

Dave Portnoy Weighs In Before Brady’s Return to Gillette

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy used Vrabel’s answer to weigh in on the promotion surrounding Brady’s return.

He said the clip captured how he felt when he saw the hype video for Brady coming back to New England, “like we are all very stupid people who don’t remember the past.”Portnoy shared his reaction here.

One fan went further back, speculating that things had “always been weirdly icy between them” and pointing to Vrabel’s years in Tennessee as part of that reading.

Despite speculation about tension between the former teammates, Vrabel previously spoke positively about Brady. In August, he dismissed suggestions that Brady’s neutral stance during Super Bowl LX had damaged their relationship, describing the seven-time champion as a friend and former teammate.

Brady has said he expectshis return to Foxborough to be emotional. Sunday will be his first time calling a Patriots game at Gillette as a broadcaster.

The weekend also brings together three players the franchise has honored in recent years. Vrabel entered the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2023, Brady followed in 2024, and Gronkowski goes in on Saturday.