Winning his first Super Bowl championship and getting married has made this quite the stretch for New England Patriots seven-year veteran right tackle Sebastian Vollmer.
“Two rings in one year,” he happily noted Sunday in an interview with Bob Socci on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s draft preview show.
Vollmer, who played in every game last season except for the season finale when he was rested, had his time to celebrate the Super Bowl title. That time, he told Socci on 98.5, is officially over.
“I think you enjoy it for a few days afterwards, and try to re-live it, and it’s kind of a surreal feeling,” he said on the program. “But then it’s really time to get back to work and you’re trying to catch up with the other teams and get back to business pretty quick. ... It was a great time and no one can take that away, but it's over now. We started the new year and it's only going to be harder. Everyone wants to be the champion, everyone wants to beat the champion, so it's going to be a tough road ahead."
Along those lines, Monday marks the official beginning of the team’s voluntary offseason program, with Vollmer saying it's a time of "gaining your strength back." Vollmer’s participation will be affected by his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery.
In the interview with Socci, which was focused on the draft, he recapped his progression as an offensive lineman from the University of Houston to the Patriots, highlighting the importance of coaching.
Specific to the Patriots, he said, “Coming in with Dante Scarnecchia as the offensive line coach, obviously he was really detail-oriented and really you had no choice of getting better. I definitely appreciate that. With [Dave DeGuglielmo] coming in and really taking a focus on run-blocking, I think it’s really just embracing the technique and going at it. I feel like I can learn something from every coach I’ve had.”