Mike Vrabel wants another Super Bowl title before he retires.

The Providence Journal / Gretchen Ertl

FOXBORO –– In the days leading up to Super Bowl XLII, Mike Vrabel said he had thought long and hard about retiring before the 2007 NFL season.

After all, he said, he never dreamed of being a part of three Super Bowl-winning teams and being selected to the Pro Bowl when he entered the league in 1997 as a third-round draft pick out of Ohio State.

But when the Patriots signed Adalius Thomas in the offseason last year, it meant that Vrabel, who had been playing inside linebacker, would have a chance to move to his more natural position, outside linebacker.

He also still felt healthy and he had the passion to continue playing, so Vrabel returned and remained part of one of the most storied teams in NFL history.

He also had a career season, setting a personal record for sacks with 12.5, which was also the most since Patriots Hall of Famer Andre Tippitt racked up 12.5 in 1987, and Vrabel was selected to his first Pro Bowl.

A victory in Super Bowl XLII would have been a perfect storybook ending for the 11-year NFL veteran. But the Giants prevailed, 17-14, so Vrabel decided to return for at least one more season.

But when training camp began, Vrabel was not on the field with his teammates. He was on the physically unable to perform list.

Yesterday the Patriots not only took him off the PUP list, but he returned to practice for the first time this season.

“Yeah, I was excited to go out there and play and put pads on,” Vrabel said. “I know those guys have been going at it for two weeks and I’m in a little different scenario than those guys, but I’m still certainly excited to put the pads back on.”

Vrabel joked that the reason he missed the first two weeks of training camp was because of “old age.”

“I was trying to get some rest and get back healthy,” said Vrabel, who turns 33 a week from tomorrow. “You realize how quick of an offseason it is when you play into February. You are not as healthy as you’ve been in the past so you need a couple of extra weeks.”

Vrabel said he doesn’t feel old when he’s on the field.

“I felt great, conditioning-wise, when I was out there running around, so I just have to start putting these practices together,” Vrabel said, adding that he is looking forward to helping New England’s rookie linebackers develop.

With only an hour and a half of practice under his belt this summer, Vrabel said he doesn’t think Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will play him tomorrow night against Baltimore.

“If Bill is going to put me in there, I’ll play,” Vrabel said. “I’ll play, but I don’t know if he’ll put me in there. One day of practice usually isn’t enough for Bill.”

Vrabel said he stayed in shape while on the PUP list by running, lifting weights and watching film.

“You just try to heal up and you try to get back and reflect on the season and try to figure out what you’d like to improve on, where you can improve, what you do, and how you can help this football team,” Vrabel said.

Vrabel said he would like to improve on third-down plays this season.

“You get to this stage in your career and you want to do better,” Vrabel said. “On third down, I’d like to finish off some of those close sacks instead of just making the pressures. I want to try to find a way to finish. I think defensively you can always play better against the run.

“I think there are things that instead of turning the ball back in, you can try to make more plays in the run game instead of saying, ‘Well, I took care of my responsibility.’ The coaches sum it up pretty easy. The job on defense is to get the guy with the ball. If we all have that mentality, do our job first and then go get the guy with the ball, then we are going to have a lot of guys making plays.”

roblee@projo.com