FOXBORO — The Patriots made the surprising decision Friday to release veteran safety Jabrill Peppers, and head coach Mike Vrabel dove into some of the reasons why they made the move during his first press conference of the week.

Vrabel said Peppers’ release was not related to the Patriots’ new defensive scheme.

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“No, I don’t think that was certainly not the issue. There’s a lot of reasons,” Vrabel said. “I wouldn’t say that’s — we’re going to try to do what works best for the team. We got a lot of different schemes that we can run in all three phases, special teams, offense and defense. There’s a lot that goes into it. And again, we’re just trying to build toward Sunday here, and that’s our focus. And again, that’s the decision that we had to make. Again, wish the best f

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