To no surprise, the Patriots have named Mike Vrabel as their next head coach. Ian Rapoport of NFL.com was the first to report that the hire was imminent.
Just yesterday, we learned that New England and Vrabel were engaged in contract discussions, a clear sign that a deal was forthcoming. Now, just over a year after he was dismissed as head coach of the Titans, Vrabel is back in the HC ranks at the helm of the team with which he won three Super Bowls as a player.
Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Vrabel is the seventh person to become the head coach of a team that he once helped win a Super Bowl as a player. The sixth person on that list, Jerod Mayo, was fired by New England last week after just one season in the top job.
Mayo was owner Robert Kraft‘s hand-picked successor to Bill Belichick, and for a long time, it appeared that Mayo would be given at least another year in charge. After all, he inherited a team that was clearly in the early stages of a rebuild, and despite a few public missteps, it would have been easy to justify allowing him to return for 2025.
Last week, however, it was reported that those public “gaffes” — in conjunction with a locker room culture that may not have been as strong as some players portrayed it to be and an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Chargers in Week 17 — were conspiring to drive Mayo out of Foxborough. He was canned later that same day, shortly after the Pats’ regular season finale.
Speculatively, Vrabel’s availability may well have clinched Kraft’s decision to hand Mayo his walking papers. During his time as the Titans’ head coach, Vrabel established himself as one of the league’s better bench bosses, and he is highly-regarded for his game management and his ability to develop a strong culture predicated on accountability. The Titans posted a winning record in each of Vrabel’s first four seasons in Nashville, which included three playoff appearances and a trip to the AFC title game. He earned Coach of the Year honors following the 2021 campaign, but things took a turn for the worse over the 2022-23 seasons.
A seven-game losing streak to close out the 2022 season left Tennessee with a 7-10 record after a division title seemed to be in the cards, and the team slipped to a 6-11 mark in 2023. During that 2023 campaign, Ran Carthon‘s first as Titans GM following Jon Robinson‘s surprising firing, there was reportedly tension between Vrabel and Carthon (a situation that may have been exacerbated by the fact that the Titans hired Carthon instead of Ryan Cowden, who was Vrabel’s preferred Robinson successor).
Vrabel may have also wanted more input in personnel matters in Tennessee, a situation that will bear monitoring in New England. The Pats have already announced that they will retain executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and top front office executive Alonzo Highsmith, though as Mike Reiss of ESPN.com wrote this morning, the roles of those two men are to be determined. Charles Robinson of Yahoo! Sports reports that Cowden, who is currently serving as a personnel advisor for the Giants, will likely be added to the Patriots’ personnel department in a non-GM capacity, though he believes Wolf will retain final authority.
Another situation worth monitoring will be whom Vrabel chooses as his offensive coordinator. Josh McDaniels, a familiar face for Patriots fans, has been named as an obvious choice, and the defensive-minded Vrabel will need to get that hire right in order to maximize the potential of young quarterback Drake Maye. Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 draft, showed flashes as a rookie and is one of the reasons why the New England HC job was generally seen as a desirable one, and his continued development will be a top priority.
Indeed, as Reiss points out, Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson — one of the most respected offensive minds in the game — was New England’s second choice. If they had offered Johnson the job, and if Johnson had accepted, the Pats would have had an ideal coach-QB pairing, but unlike Vrabel, Johnson has never had to create his own team culture. Vrabel, on the other hand, does have that experience, and the Pats are banking on his ability to properly fill out his staff.
As our head coaching search tracker shows, Vrabel was connected to each of the six teams in need of a new HC this year, further underscoring the strength of his candidacy. Per Dianna Russini of The Athletic, the Bears and Jets made “consistent and late pushes” to land him, and Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic believes New York had a real shot at him until the Patriots’ job became available. Meanwhile, Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network reports that, despite the Raiders‘ (and minority owner Tom Brady‘s) interest in Vrabel, Brady’s former teammate declined a Las Vegas interview because he knew he would be accepting the New England gig (video link).
Despite the Patriots’ 4-13 record in 2024, the presence of Maye, the hiring of Vrabel, and the prospect of the most salary cap space in the league will surely create plenty of excitement in New England in the coming months.
Not a surprise but not sure it’s a good choice.
Its a great choice. You can argue Johnson makes more sense but this also makes a ton of sense.
Sorry, but Ben Johnson was never going to the Pats
And Ben Johnson’s agent told you this when?
I mean, it’s not rocket science? Johnson has been linked more to the Bears/Jaguars than he was with the Patriots. His name just got thrown in there the last day or two.
It seemed like everyone knew Vrabel was going to NE when they fired Mayo.
Johnson was linked to the Patriots pretty early. He accepted their interview request along with the Bears at the same time.
Its the “never” part that I am questioning.
I highly doubt Johnson’ agent is that dumb as to exclude the Pats from their search. Bears and Jags are not better jobs than the Pats.
At a minimum, Johnson could have used the Pats to up his contract, so the never part is foolhardy at best.
Also, you do understand that we, the public get information last and I guarantee you that Johnson’s agent was never telling Pro Football trades.com anything except what he wanted in the public.
Ahh i get it, you are a Bears fan.
So its just an opinion based on other opinions.
Johnson is heavily linked now to the raiders.
Patriots had way way more interest in Johnson than he would ever have for the pats. He’s wasn’t going there. But at the end of the day they hired vrabel and it was a good hire
Again,
HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS!!
Sorry, but its great to have an opinion, but you guys are making statements as if they are facts and I doubt anyone on this board has an incite into the actual discussions.
How do you know the contrary?
Are you familiar with how opinions work? So now we have to put IMO before every comment so you dont get confused?
Otto, granted I’m comparing apples and bundt cakes here, but replacing a coach who had zero experience with another coach who has zero experience probably wouldn’t have been a good move.
Smart org
Love the hire but feel like Mayo deserved another year. The wins weren’t there but Maye looked like he was developing nicely. He’s been the coach in waiting for years and they give him one season? But at the end of the day Vrabel is a solid hire I was surprised when the Titans let him go and more surprised he wasn’t hired last offseason
I love Vrabel (he was my 2nd choice), but I was hoping they’d go with an offensive-minded head coach. They better either get a great OC, or become a top 3 Defense.
McDaniels or Tommy Rees are his two ideas for OC. Lol, good luck with all that.
McDaniels made Mac look good.
I felt the same way, I was hoping for an offensive minded coach, but I am happy with Vrabel.
An adult in the room, finally.
I’m going to enjoy watching this fail spectacularly. He’s a mediocre HC.
But he replaces a head coach who was a complete failure.
4 winning seasons and 2 playoffs in Tennessee says different. He turned a mediocre defense into a top 5-10 unit. It didn’t get rough til Todd Downing became OC. If Vrabel has a solid OC, this could totally work.
The OC was his choice. His hire. That doesn’t bode well for him considering he picked Downing. I’d argue most people on here would have advised Vrabel to seek an OC elsewhere if downing was presented as the choice. But Vrabel made that choice. Was he being stubborn? Owed downing a favor? Or just doesn’t know playcalling talent?
Since HE hired Lafluer and Arthur Smith, I give him the benefit of the doubt. And there’s no way to know if the GM wanted Downing since he was already in the org.
He also kept downing for two season. Then Hired Tim Kelly after downing. Kelly was fired fired as OC for the Texans prior to Vrabel naming him OC. That Texans team was awful on offense. Those two were his downfall in tennesse IMO. Bith brutal OCs.
Hiring a coach who was awful and never listened to others because he used to play for your team is another example of failure in New England. Kraft obviously desperate for something good before he dies but this won’t help.
Vrabel was an awful coach? First time I have heard that.
He has a nine game over .500 record when his opponents were two flaming dumpster fires in the other three places in the division. What exactly would you call him? he’s certianly not a good coach. His hype reminds me of how everyone would regurgitate that Jeff Fisher was a great coach with five winning seasons in almost 20 years.
Because Fisher spent much of his coaching career with a club that’s currently in the AFC South. “7-9 Forever”.
That didn’t take long. U want the job ? It’s yours. Had respectable run in Tenn. He’s got to be better than Mayo. Not sure I’d go w/McDaniels as OC again. Fresh new blood on staff.
Vrabel was a great coach until the GM he didn’t like traded away AJ Brown
Shocked. So…..shocked
Rooney rule
They have satisfied the Rooney Rule.
Byron Leftwich was their sacrificial lamb interviewee to fulfill the Rooney Rule.
I love how everyone cares about the Rooney Rule when its someone else’s team. Rooney Rule had great intentions, but it fails in reality. Most teams who wanted a specific coach did the same thing the Pats did. Did the Chargers do an extensive search for a minority candidate? Probably not since they had Harbough lined up.
BTW the Pats hired a minority coach in 2024, right? and interviewed three i believe in 2025.
IF you have a problem with the way the Rule works, then call the NFL or the NFLPA, stop getting upset when the team in question hired a minority coach the year before and followed the rule exactly.
I don’t care one bit about it. It’s a bogus rule to begin with lol. I just knew it’d make someone upset. Congrats : you are today’s lucky winner!
Unless Vrabel said he wanted to take a year off…the question is why didn’t this happen last year? (I know about the so called agreement with Mayo, but successful businessmen don’t make bad deals just because they said they’d do something 5 years prior)
I truly hate this decision as a TN fan and someone who wants to enjoy NE more. I am a Drake Maye fan. Think this was as bad of a hire for him as you could possibly imagine. Better than Mayo? Okay agreed. But so what? How hard is that? Bronchitis is better than COVID but I want neither. One of my favorite days as a sports fan was when they let Vrabel go. He had his moments. So what? Everybody does eventually. Belichik had a lot more moments than he did and they moved on from him. Vrabel had a unicorn at RB and could only win 6 games two years in a row. This team is probably worse than TN those last two years he was there with Henry.
If you cant move on from the Patriot way and the last two years the Patriot way has not worked, hire Flores instead. But move on. Hire an offensive mind who can groom your franchise QB who has a ton of upside.
I get the frustration with Vrabel, but I’m curious how you consider Flores superior. In a shorter time, he had a more average record, and has a few potentially large concerns with players-particularly in developing young quarterbacks.
I think Kraft is living in nostalgia, mostly-his waxing poetic about his past players while blaming Belichick seems to support that. Vrabel might be more inclined than Flores to participate in humoring Kraft in those moments. Even if he doesn’t, I think that he gives Kraft that warm, fuzzy feeling of a former standout coming home to roost that Flores does not. Just speculation on my part, and totally a bad way to judge coaches, but I think that it’s there.
On a relevant level, though, Vrabel at least should compare well to Flores. If you’re going with experience this cycle, rather than innovation, I can’t see how there’s an advantage to the less experienced coach with lesser accomplishments and associated concerns. I don’t think that Vrabel is any less viable a candidate than the others, and he does have the best experience level of the available options.
You can’t risk a young QB’s future with Flores. Regardless of how true or untrue Tua’s comments were about him. (Why would he flat out lie?) Take another route… The risk with Vrabel is who he picks for an OC. From a defense standpoint, he turned an average D in Tennessee into a top 5-10 unit. And I lay the last 2 years of Henry’s performance at the GM’s feet, who failed with a miserable O-line.
To clarify more I didnt mean Flores was the perfect fit and was the right guy. Only that I feel the better option than Vrabel today right now. And that reason is he has done absolutely spectacular things with the MN defense that is turning heads and makes him an attractive candidate based on what he is doing right now. Vrabel has not done anything impressive at all in about 4 years.
I get the idea of comparing career accomplishments and Vrabel has some nice resume bullet points. But tons of living former head coaches have that and their phone is not ringing. Jeff Fisher was better for TN and Mularkey had a better playoff winning % than Vrabel. But noone would consider calling them for a fraction of a second. Dungy Cowher Brian Billick Herman Edwards you could look at all of their career accomplishments and play the same game people are playing with Vrabel. Well, he once did this. The thing is time passes and people wonder if you can do it today. I hated watching Vrabel coach the TN teams in his last 2 years as a TN fan. And its not like they were an abysmal team he pulled from the gutter. Flores is doing excellent things right now and his last head coaching experience, he went like 8-1 before a playoff loss. So only saying I think he is a better option for NE or any team in 2025 than Vrabel. But would still agree not an ideal fit for NE.
Would say NE needs more of a QB whisperer guru offensive mind type to groom Maye. I do think they had a respectable shot at Ben Johnson. But even if no, just someone that could help develop Maye, even if meant not winning Championships immediately. Cohen from TB, Sarkisian, Kellen Moore, Monken from BAL. Lots of other options to get Maye on the right path.
Couple other thoughts, Brady the OC from Buffalo would have fit.
But on the Flores Vrabel comp, when Flores was coaching, that MIA team was not that good. Tyreek in his prime had not arrived yet, the owner was hoping he would tank but he was overachieving and winning. Vrabel at his best had an All-Pro WR and one of the best RBs in history. After he lost the WR and still had Henry he could not coach them to better than 7 and 6 wins. He could stop the run but stopping the pass, couldn’t figure it out. I think this NE team is a bit worse than the TN teams he finished with. Just not sure he is the guy to coach up an undertalented team and get results.
Kraft was enamored with Mayo. He hired him because he liked him, not because he was a good football coach. It blew up in his face.
This is a solid name, right here.
I’ve heard a few whispers from the Detroit media that BJ might be headed back to the Lions once again. I honestly believe he would take the Jags job if they hadn’t retained Trent Baalke. Nobody wants to work under that guy, and that seems to be the one holdup for Johnson. I truly thought he’d be gone by now, but Shiela Ford keeps upping his salary and his family loves the community their in. Dude may just be happy being a great OC. At some point he’ll book, but I don’t think this cycle will be that time.
I know it’s still possible he grabs 1 of the other available jobs, but I’m starting to wonder if he a) really WANTS to be a HC, or b) truly believes he’s ready/qualified for it. And maybe even c) both a and b, plus using all the interest to get more money from the Lions.
Nothing against the dude if any are true, just curious..also if he can pull this again next year or do teams just look elsewhere assuming he won’t actually leave his current gig.
Hey, it’ll probably make him better. I agree that Johnson probably is held back by the Baalke question in Jacksonville, and possibly the Warren question in Chicago. I think that he really wants to make it work wherever his first job is-and, probably, is considering the upcoming draft classes as well. Next year’s hopefully will be better than this year’s.
This is a well written article, that covers a lot of different perspectives, addresses pro and con arguments, and does so in a neutral manner. Just wanted to give a shout-out to the writer-good work, Rory.
Why didn’t they hire him last year?
Kraft promised the job to Mayo, before Vrabel got fired. If he hadnt promised the job to Mayo to keep him from interviewing elsewhere, Vrabel would have gotten the job last year. IMO
Shocking!