6 things to know about Patriots coaching candidate Mike Vrabel
Mike Vrabel – the former Patriots star who helped the team win three Super Bowls – interviewed for the team's head coach position.
Mike Vrabel – former Patriots linebacker who helped the team win three Super Bowls and collected a first team All-Pro honor during his playing career – interviewed for New England’s head coaching position. Here’s what to know about the former Patriots star.
He’s an Ohio State Hall of Fame inductee.
Vrabel’s performance during his years at Ohio State University, from 1993 to 1996, earned him a spot in the school’s Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 2012.
In his final two years of college football, Vrabel won the Big Ten’s Defensive Lineman of the Year. He set the school’s single-season records for sacks and tackles for loss in a season each year. While those records have since been broken, Vrabel’s 36 sacks and tackles for loss at Ohio State remain a program record.
Vrabel’s career sack total is also the third-highest in Big Ten history while his 66.5 tackles for loss are the sixth-most in conference history.
He is also included in the all-time in the Big Ten for sacks and tackles for loss at third and sixth respectively.
Vrabel returned to Columbus after his playing career was over. He was a defensive line and linebackers coach at Ohio State for three seasons (2011-13) before making the jump to the NFL.
He made a couple of pivotal plays over the first iteration of the Patriots’ dynasty.
Vrabel was a standout at linebacker for the Patriots over his eight seasons with the team, earning a Pro Bowl and an All-Pro nod at the position. But his most notable contributions came on the offensive side of the ball.
In Super Bowl XXXVIII, Vrabel lined up at tight end and caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Tom Brady. The score was pivotal, giving the Patriots a 29-22 lead over the Panthers with under three minutes remaining. That score, along with Vrabel’s two sacks, helped New England win its second Super Bowl.
A year later, Vrabel stepped up again in the Super Bowl. He caught a juggling two-yard touchdown pass from Brady while being interfered with. Vrabel’s touchdown reception gave New England a 14-7 edge in the third quarter against Philadelphia in Super Bowl XXXIX. The Patriots wound up winning that game, 24-21.
Vrabel finished his Patriots career with 48 sacks and 606 combined tackles. But those two touchdown receptions will forever live in Patriots lore.
A former Patriots standout was “blown away” by Vrabel’s coaching capabilities.
Former Patriots cornerback Logan Ryan played under Vrabel for two seasons with the Titans. In an interview with MassLive’s Karen Guregian, Ryan said that Vrabel is a “perfect fit” for the Patriots, sharing some insight of what it was like to play under him with the Titans.
“I was blown away by how smart he was as a coach, as a strategist, an in-game strategist,” Ryan told Guregian. “He really gave us an advantage not only schematically defensively, but just using strategy at the end and knowing exactly what to do situationally.”
Ryan also shared how Vrabel handled things behind the scenes differently than Bill Belichick as he said that Vrabel “gives you a true advantage on the sideline.”
“Derrick [Henry] got 40 carries in a game, so his practice looked a little different. That was smart. In New England with Bill, everyone had the same exact practice,” Ryan said. “He didn’t care how many carries you had, or how many snaps you played.”
He has similarities and differences to Belichick.
Ryan also noted how Vrabel challenged his players, saying that some of his approach was similar to older coaches like Belichick. In team video sessions, Vrabel showed his Titans team their low-lights and the mistakes of the game instead of celebrating the accomplishments like Belichick would, according to Ryan. Ryan said that pushed the players.
“He knows how to win games and he’ll do what it takes to win games,” Ryan told Guregian
Mike Florio, the host of the “Pro Football Talk” podcast, called Vrabel “Bill Belichick with charm,” due to his similar knowledge of the game but also for his ability to talk.
“Former player who’s got the chops, the pounce on the wall, catching touchdowns in the Super Bowl,” Florio said. “He’s a guy who combines credibility with [the] ability to stand in front of a room and take over.”
Former Patriots star Devin McCourty, whose paths never crossed with Vrabel during his time in New England, thinks the Patriots Hall of Famer could be the man New England is looking for due to some of his similaries with Belichick.
“That is the perfect fit of what New England’s probably looking for of a guy coming in that has some Belichick-kind-of ways about him,” McCourty said on the “Pro Football Talk” podcast. “Not full Belichick, but has some of those things about him. I’m sure for the Krafts, [Vrabel] reminds them enough of Bill, but also has a side that they enjoy of moving maybe a little bit away from the personality of Bill into this new world.”
Why did the Titans fire Vrabel as head coach?
Vrabel was surprisingly fired by the Titans at the end of the 2023 season, which marked just the second time in his six seasons as head coach that the team had a losing record.
However, there were multiple issues behind the scenes that led to Vrabel’s firing. Vrabel had asked team owner Amy Adams Strunk for full roster control after the Titans fired general manager Jon Robinson during the 2022 season, but the idea was immediately shot down, The Athletic reported last January.
Vrabel also reportedly suggested to Strunk that Ran Carthon, who the team hired to replace Robinson, should’ve been hired as the assistant general manager. Strunk also wasn’t thrilled with Vrabel’s speech after he was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in October 2023 when he said, “Enjoy it. It’s not like this everywhere,” according to The Athletic.
There were also multiple reports that Vrabel and Carthon failed to see eye-to-eye on roster building. Strunk seemed to acknowledge that was the case when she announced Vrabel’s firing.
“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,” Strunk said in her statement. “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.”
Vrabel left Tennessee with the second-best record in Titans history at 54-45 and won Coach of the Year in 2021. Considering Vrabel’s success, players like Henry were thrown off by his firing.
“I’m definitely surprised because of the body of the work that Vrabes had,” Henry said Henry on the “Bussin’ with the Boys” podcast. “These last two years have been tough but I feel like Vrabes is a great head coach. He has a championship mentality.”
He spent the 2024 season with the Browns as a consultant.
Following his termination, Vrabel signed a one-year consulting contract with the Cleveland Browns. He mostly worked with the team’s tight ends, giving input when he was with the team and from remote locations. As Vrabel eventually joined the team for practices and even played a role on the scout team, his duties with the Browns also included giving input during the draft process.
“He has the big-picture perspective,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry told The Athletic‘s Zack Rosenblatt. “I think it’s not only sitting in the head-coaching seat, but as someone who’s had to recruit in college (at Ohio State), a former player, a successful defensive coordinator in the NFL — I think the mosaic of those experiences has really suited him well.”
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