Playing in the Super Bowl paints just as big a target on your back as winning it does. In a battle between the AFC and NFC victors, only one gets the Lombardi Trophy, but you still have to stomp over all your opponents to get there. For the New England Patriots, entering year 2 under head coach Mike Vrabel, that target has never been bigger, and all of their AFC rivals are aiming for a bullseye. For former Patriots Super Bowl-winning cornerback Jason McCourty, that’s a problem.

When sportscaster Chase Coburn asked McCourty if there’s a team he’d temper the expectations around, McCourty pointed to his old team with a sigh.

“I fear for my squad in New England,” McCourty warned. “I feel like everyone is extremely high on them, and I am, too. But it’s a completely different atmosphere after you’ve made the run that they’ve made. I think they got better in the offseason when you add AJ Brown and some of the pieces that they did, and Romeo Doubs. The hard part is, during joint practices a week ago, they’re playing against Indianapolis Colts, and at the end of practice the defense gets an interception, and then Daniel Jones goes down and carves them up in two minute.

“And the Colts – Mike Reiss was talking about this… – the Colts are going n–s after the practice celebrating as if they won a big game. Cam Bynum, their safety, after the practice said, ‘Well, this is the defending AFC Champions from a year ago, like, this a measuring-stick type of practice for us.’ So, I think for New England, when you go from the hunters to being the hunted, that is every single week that you’re going to have to go out there and perform. So, I get a little nervous.”

Despite all the offseason narratives around Vrabel, he has kept his sights trained on the regular season. The two-time Coach of the Year has already proven he can turn a franchise around and lead them to success. But sustaining that success when every team is out to get you is where things start to go off the rails. To that effect, Vrabel already knows what he needs to fix.

In a recent preseason postgame presser, Vrabel acknowledged that the Patriots aren’t a very deep team. While that comment sparked a lot of concerns, he later explained that he just wants the backups to be ready to suit up in case something derails the starters.

“We are the front office. We’re all making the decisions. I’m just saying, we’re all included in this,” Vrabel explained on the Greg Hill Show. “No, it was about the young guys that we have to develop, and you could see that the players that we kept out of the (preseason) game, that those are the guys (the starters).

“And then, we have to be able to find some guys behind them to be backups, to be the first guy in and be the third outside linebacker, be the third inside linebacker, be the sixth offensive lineman. These things that are so critical – be the third safety. And so, those are the things that we’re trying to develop.”

Vrabel already knows the opposing defenses will be out for blood. He got a firsthand taste of that when his squad went up against the Indianapolis Colts in joint practice, and when they later tied their first preseason game. With teams like the Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, Chicago Bears, and the Detroit Lions all lined up in the first half of their 2026 regular season, nothing is coming easy. That makes having good backups all the more important.

“I think we can always work to improve that,” Vrabel had said. “And you just know that through the course of the season you’re going to need so many of those guys just because things are going to happen, and we have to be ready to play games without those frontline guys, and that’s on us to be able to get these guys ready to go.”

The target on their backs isn’t going away unless they fail to replicate last year’s success early on. But Mike Vrabel knows this franchise inside out. He’s won three Super Bowls with the Patriots as a player, and knows what it takes to face the heat and still come out the other side with a ring. The 2026 season will be the crucible where he can put Jason McCourty’s nervousness to rest.