In May, just four months after the New England Patriots hired new head coach Mike Vrabel — the 16th coach in franchise history but third in three years — longtime Boston Globe NFL reporter Ben Volin noticed that Vrabel was up to something.

His machinations were getting no coverage to speak of, but even at that early stage, Vrabel — Volin noted — was purging the Patriots roster of players connected to his predecessors, one-year head coach Jerod Mayo and before that, legendary head coach Bill Belichick.

"Vrabel has been holding a liquidation sale in Foxborough: Everyone connected to Jerod Mayo and Bill Belichick must go," Volin wrote. "One by one they have been whacked, like the 'Goodfellas' mobsters involved in the Lufthansa heist."

Belichick, who was fired by Patriots owner Rober

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