FOXBOROUGH – Mike Vrabel hired Ekene Olekanma to help beef up the Patriots analytics department.
Officially, Olekanma, who had been with the 49ers as a football research and development coordinator, will be the Director of Coaching Analytics.
Vrabel also said Tuesday that along with Olekanma, he’s going to add a few more people to that analytics group.
But when it comes to in-game decision making, Vrabel made it very clear who will be the most important voice in his ear: John “Stretch” Streicher.
When decisions need to be made whether to go for it on fourth down, etc., Vrabel pointed to his personal go-to-guy.
“Yeah, that’ll be Stretch and I. That’s a pretty proven system, but I would say that (Olekanma) would be involved. That would be one area that he would help us, help me and Stretch specifically outside of the game planning, the self-scout, the opponent’s pre-advanced report or anything that they may do.
“We’d carve out some time for him, me and Stretch based on who we’re playing, how aggressive we need to be, what are the field conditions, what are the wind, what are the game conditions. That would all be part of what he would do, but I would imagine that the communication would still stay between Stretch and I. Not that he wouldn’t communicate with him throughout the game.”
Ernie Adams used to be Bill Belichick’s in-game guru and eye in the sky for critical decisions. Now Stretch has a similar role with Vrabel.
But that doesn’t mean Olekanma’s expertise won’t be utilized.
“I think that just having somebody that’s dedicated, that’s been in that role, that can manage the people that we have here. He did a fantastic job in his interview process and meeting with all the different groups that we feel like he’s going to be able to work with,” Vrabel said. “He played football. Not that that’s a prerequisite, but you have to have the ability to not only take these numbers and pull them out of wherever they pull them out of.
“I’m not going to pretend that I know, but also have some application to it and be able to explain it to the coaches and say, ‘How much is too much, probably need more.’ However we can make our jobs more efficient and better is something that I’m excited about. We’re all excited about him.”
Vrabel said he uses analytics more as a tool, as opposed to an outright decision-maker.
