Vrabel Left BC Because He Felt ‘Ready to Take the Next Step’
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Zion Johnson was going to be one of the top interior lineman in this year’s draft class. Alec Lindstrom was a Rimington Trophy finalist and one of five Boston College players to ever earn multiple first-team All-ACC honors. And Ben Petrula maxed out his Eagles career with a program-record 60 consecutive starts.
But Tyler Vrabel, BC’s fourth O-Line upperclassman starter with NFL hopes, could have returned to Chestnut Hill for one last season. After all, he was just coming off a redshirt junior campaign that saw him miss two full games with injuries and post his lowest Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade (74.2) of his college career.
Regardless, Vrabel—the son of three-time Super Bowl champion and current Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel—decided now was the time to make the jump to the next level.
“I felt like I was ready to take the next step,” Vrabel said Friday after BC’s Pro Day. “I’ve been at BC for four years, and I put in my time in here, done well, loved every minute of it, but it was at a point where the best decision to make for myself and the team [was] just moving forward.”
Vrabel came to BC as a three-star recruit from Houston in 2018. By the time his first season rolled around, he had put on 45 pounds to hit the 300 mark, but the 6-foot-5 tackle ended up redshirting as a freshman.
The next three years, though, he was a staple of the Eagles’ offensive line. In 2019 and 2021, he played left tackle. Vrabel slid to the right side in 2020 because of a shoulder injury he suffered ahead of the season.
As a redshirt freshman, he started all 13 games and didn’t allow a single sack while protecting the blind side. He was also part of an Eagles O-Line that paved the way for an eighth-ranked rushing attack that was fueled by the pairing of running backs AJ Dillon and David Bailey.
His shoulder injury the next season jumbled up the entire offensive line. Not only did Vrabel move to right tackle, but Zion Johnson shifted from left guard to left tackle, and Ben Petrula went from right tackle to right guard.
The re-alignment, as well as BC’s transition to a zone blocking scheme, resulted in growing pains. That dominant run game from the year before plummeted to 118th nationally. And BC’s O-Line gave up 15 more sacks than the season prior, although a dramatic increase in pass attempts factored in, too.
Vrabel, however, actually posted the best PFF pass blocking grade (81.3) of his career in 2020. He conceded a pair of sacks and was only penalized three times.
Vrabel moved back to left tackle for this past season. Unfortunately for the NFL hopeful, his stock took a hit as he allowed a career-worst five sacks and 17 pressures in 10 games and 551 snaps, according to PFF.
This time, he couldn’t just play through injury. He hurt his knee at Clemson and was sidelined for the second half and all of the North Carolina State game. Soon after his return, he sustained an upper-body injury at Syracuse that caused him to miss the Virginia Tech game. Vrabel came back for the final three weeks of the regular season. That said, he gave up sacks versus both Florida State and Wake Forest.
His PFF numbers, albeit worse in 2021, are still promising across the board. Vrabel logged pass and run blocking grades north of 70 each year he was a starter. And he’s confident in his ability to perform in a league where his father has made a living.
Vrabel made it clear Friday that his dad has played a significantly bigger role for him as a life mentor than that of a football coach.
“Everything I've gotten has come from me,” Vrabel said. “But he's obviously been a big help. Just asking him certain questions, what to expect, how I carry myself, how I do certain things. So more of outside of football help as opposed to O-Line play or stuff like that.”
Vrabel said that, as soon as he made his decision, the pre-draft process really picked up speed. But then, when he figured out his training plans, “two months turned into like a year.”
All along, he had Friday in mind. He felt like it went “pretty well.” The unofficial results indicated that Vrabel threw up 21 reps of a 225-pound bench, posted a 28.5-inch vertical and a 9-foot-2 broad jump and ran a 4.59 short shuttle.
Vrabel’s goal isn’t just to get a camp invite. Drafted or not, he wants to make an active roster.
“Everything,” Vrabel said of what it would mean to him.
“That's obviously what I'm working for.”
