After signficant speculation regarding his future, Mike Vrabel‘s time in Tennessee has come to an end. The Titans fired the veteran head coach on Tuesday, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter. The team has since confirmed the move. 
Ian Rapoport of NFL Network terms the news a parting of ways, but in any event the Titans will have a substantial vacancy to fill on the sidelines. Notably, today’s separation has not come about via trade, something many suggested would take place if the decision was made on Tennessee’s part to move on. Now, Vrabel will be free to join a new team without compensation coming the Titans’ way.
Tension was believed to exist between between Vrabel and general manager Ran Carthon, which led to questions being raised about the possibility a move on the sidelines could be made. The former downplayed that factor, and stated a public intention of remaining in Nashville for the foreseeable future. After a meeting with the franchise’s top decision-makers, however, Vrabel is now unemployed. Dianna Russini of The Athletic reports the Titans felt working out a trade would be too lengthy and complex to follow through with it. She adds Vrabel made no request to be traded or step away from his Titans post.
Tennessee posted a winning record in each of Vrabel’s first four seasons, including three playoff appearances and a trip to the AFC title game. He earned Coach of the Year honors following the 2021 campaign, but things have taken a turn for the worse since then. A seven-game losing streak to close out the 2022 season left the team with a 7-10 record after a division title seemed to be in the cards. After an offseason which included Carthon’s hiring and the decision to move on from a number of high-priced veterans, this year was viewed as a rebuilding effort to an extent.
The Titans went 6-11 in 2023, finishing in the basement of the AFC South. Like their divisional rivals, though, the team may have a young passer to build around in the form of Will Levis. The Ryan Tannehill successor showed flashes as a rookie, though signficant improvement will be needed on offense under center and along the O-line in particular for a turnaround to be possible moving forward. A new coach will be guiding the team starting in 2024.
No power struggle took place in Tennessee, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sport reports. Still, Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk has elected to move on from a longtime employee for the second straight year (having dismissed ex-GM Jon Robinson midseason in 2022). Vrabel’s status remained in the air leading into Black Monday, but with his fate now official, he will immediately become one of the top candidates in the 2024 hiring cycle.
With the Patriots considering a move away from Bill Belichick on the sidelines, New England has been linked to a Vrabel pursuit. The 48-year-old had a 14-year playing career in the NFL, including eight seasons with the Patriots. Vrabel has been classified as a ‘home run’ candidate for Pats owner Robert Kraft, but he will no doubt have competition from other teams looking for a HC hire in the coming weeks.
“Earlier today, I spoke with Mike Vrabel and told him about my decision to make a change at head coach,” a statement from Strunk reads in part. “As I told Coach Vrabel, this decision was as difficult as any I’ve made as Controlling Owner. I appreciate Mike’s contributions to the Tennessee Titans both on and off the field. Anyone who has ever met him knows how passionate and genuine he is, and he’s been a strong supporter of the Nashville community.
“As the NFL continues to innovate and evolve, I believe the teams best positioned for sustained success will be those who empower an aligned and collaborative team across all football functions. Last year, we began a shift in our approach to football leadership and made several changes to our personnel to advance that plan. As I continued to assess the state of our team, I arrived at the conclusion that the team would also benefit from the fresh approach and perspective of a new coaching staff.”
The Titans will now join the Falcons, Panthers, Raiders, Chargers and Commanders as teams in need of a new face on the sidelines. It will be interesting to see which candidates they target as a Vrabel successor as the franchise continues to move in a notably different direction than the one in place during the recent past.
New England bound. His comments while getting inducted to the NE HOF likely didn’t sit well with Titans ownership.
Agree. Could very well see him taking over for Bill when Bill ultimately goes to Carolina or Washington
Or the Chargers.
Just want to come back and point out that I commented on his HOF speech and now the media is reporting what I reported.
PATRIOTS!!
New HC, RB, and I bet a QB for the Titans next year.
I’m guessing Will Levis will be their starter next year.
Maybe, but he’ll have real competition. All new HC’s ‘want their guy’. That’s my angle.
Very possible he’ll have competition. Who would they get though? I can’t see them picking a QB in the is draft after picking Levis last year in the second round.
Maybe they grab a veteran to push him but if you’re going to rebuild anyways might as well see what the kid has.
Levis was Tennessee’s QB1 for part of this season, though not since Week 15.
Tyjae Spears looks pretty good tbh.
Replace QB with entire o line
I don’t think you can have that many players at QB.
Owner mentioned the QB in her statement. Sounds like she likes him because I doubt she mentions a second round pick if she and Carthon didn’t.
Amy Adams hasn’t been able to find her A$$ with both hands since she took over. Clueless owner. And she’s about to benefit from the largest publicly funded stadium in professional sports.
From the photos I’ve seen of her, that’s definitely making a statement..lol
Definitely wasn’t expecting this move, especially after they wrap up the season knocking the jags out the playoffs
New England bound and I think Belichick will be Eagles bound, after they are eliminated quickly.
Ignorant of the fact that the Philadelphia Eagles correctly accused the Foxboro Cheatriots of spying in the build-up to Super Bowl 39 — which the Eagles lost.
You think that would stop Philly from hiring a guy if they thought he could get them another Super Bowl? That would be negligence
There would be a fan revolt in Philadelphia should the Eagles ever hire Belichick or anyone from Foxboro.
Thanks for cheating rant. It’s been a while since I heard one.
Since yesterday with Michigan at least.
Belichick wouldn’t have the organizational power he would want in Philly and there may be some fanbase friction.
No way in hell the Eagles change the head coach.
It has already been reported that the Eagles players have lost faith in the coaches.
I hope it goes like this as an Eagles fan! I would take for able as our head coach maybe even Ben Johnson from the Lions or Eric bienemy of the Commanders
When the guy you just fired becomes the top coaching candidate for everyone else, you’ve probably made a mistake in firing that guy. As a Jags fan, I’m thrilled. Titans made a huge mistake here.
Absolutely!
No one will regret firing Mike Vrabel. He’s a dime a dozen league slightly above average coach.
He’s a really poor mans Dan Campbell
I wouldn’t even say that. Half the division hasn’t just been bad but incompetent most of his tenure. Jacksonville and Houston were national running jokes, and he’s only 10 games over .500. Campbell hired a great staff and took one of the hardest places to win at and turned it around. Vrabel hired Todd Downing, one of the worst OCs I had ever seen when he was in Oakland.
What did downing have to work with outside of Henry this year? Hopkins and a revolving door at QB?
Quite frankly I think your OC deserves a lot of credit for continually being able to design run plays that open holes for Henry.
Maybe he wouldn’t look so bad with a competent QB and guys that could catch
His franchise trades AJ brown for a dud and thought Ryan Tanehill is a franchise QB. Sounds like Vrabel is getting the better end getting his pick of a new team
Tannehill was his guy though. Remember, he had Mariotta when he got there, and he badly regressed on his watch.
Window was closed. His work was done there. he’s an above average coach but nothing special, so I could see Carthon wanting his own guy.
It is this simple ^^^. The door closed. New one opens.
This team deserves all the hell it gets for wearing those old Oiler uniforms vs Houston.
I mean, it is our franchise, so
I really don’t think Vrabel’s that good of a coach. That being said he will easily get a job.
He’s certainly not a bad coach, but I think he’s overrated a bit due to his NE ties.
There’s a big gap between the Top 5 coaches and the next 5-10, imo.
Not sure any coach could have done more with the garbage they gave him over the years. He won’t be unemployed long. I’m happy for him, as he deserves a better situation.
Garbage? They had some of the strongest line play on both sides of the ball in the league during their window. It was a very good roster.
Oh man dumb move. They overreacted to the Aj Brown trade firing Robinson and overreact to a losing season.
Not trading Henry, Hopkins, etc was a bad move on Carthon’s part. Franchise needs a reset. Heading into 2024 with Levis, Spears, and some extra draft picks would have been smart.
If they didn’t want him the Titans should have at least TRADED him to someone!
You can’t trade a HC. All you can do is ask for compensation, and I’m not sure what they would have got for him considering the amount of other candidates out there.
And btw the HC can refuse to go somewhere else. Thus ending up fired.
Uh, teams can trade for a head coach.
He has a contract just like everyone else.
If he is under contract a team can trade him for players and/or picks.
Sean Payton’s contract rights were held by the Saints who then traded his contract rights to the Broncos.
Payton sat out the 2022 season, Dennis Allen coached the Saints last 2 years.
A HC can’t refuse, but he can threaten to retire.
He has a contract with his current team. They can trade his contract but he then has to negotiate a new contract with the new team.
The coach is under no obligation to sign a contract with the team that has acquired his contract. You are trading for the rights to sign him as your coach.
You are not trading him and his contract to another team and he’s forced to honor it.
A HC has every right to refuse. Thus forcing the team to fire him.
No compensation is exchanged until a contract is agreed upon with the new team.
And if you recall Payton picked the team he wanted to sign with.
The original point was titans should have gauged interest on vrabel instead of just firing him. He was under contract for 2 more years.
Titans Vrabel and the new team could have worked out a deal even if you got a day 2 or 3 pick it was worth exploring. The nice part is Vrabel does get his preferred job but it also prevents other teams from negotiating with him.
I doubt titans even tried to explore any trade scenarios that benefitted them and Vrabel.
I think I would have fired Carthon and kept Vrabel.
He brought in the bust LT from Philly who promptly got their QB’s killed.
Thinking outside the box could Vrabel go to New England as the DC say for a couple of years, now with Belichick coaching only, hire a new GM with the mindset that Belichick retires from being HC in a couple years, then Vrabel moves up to HC.
Vrabel can’t he’s the top coaching candidate next to Harbaugh. One guy is under the radar low key other guy is some flare fan fare
I don’t think that would be a smart move for him. His stock is high right now and teams will want him as HC. If he goes to NE as DC, he runs the risk of failing and then no one will want him as a Head Coach.
Thinking outside the box?
Your post is the exact same thing Mike Florio posted on his show PFTPM today. He took it one step further and said to bring Josh back as the OC as well.
Either you listened to the same show or you are riding the same wave length as Florio lol.
Anyhow, I think it would be a waste of Vrables time to accept a coordinator job anywhere. He can coach somewhere else next season without having to do the coordinator gig for a year to prove himself like so many others have to.
I still think he would be great in Washington or Atlanta. Arthur Blank is going to hand Vrabel a blank check if he goes to the ATL, but the QB situation is going to make candidates hesitate. Washington has the 2nd pick overall and some nice offensive weapons. Washington is one of the best landing spots available and they are in desperate need of a culture changer.
The problem with Atlanta is they just fired arthur smith who was Vrabel’s OC. vrabel may want to reunite with smith
Patriots written all over it. What else he gonna do. Coordinate?
Vrabel to NE and Belichick to Washington. Swap of first round position as compensation and some deal.
Belichick coaching the Washington Redskins — still won’t keep their stadium from being filled by fans of the opposing team.
Fired Vrabel .. check
Raiders hiring Vrabel next ..
I don’t see Vrabel returning to the Patriots. The situation there requires a major rebuild and regardless of what is accomplished, the shadow of Belichick’s accomplishments is too large to overcome.