Mike Vrabel reportedly to add Doug Marrone, other former head coaches to his Patriots staff

Doug Marrone and Thomas Brown are reportedly set to join New England's staff on offense with Josh McDaniels.

Doug Marrone coached the Bills and Jaguars in the NFL ranks. Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

January 27, 2025

3 minutes to read

Mike Vrabel’s revamped coaching staff with the Patriots isn’t going to be lacking experience in 2025.

New England already has a former NFL head coach and longtime coordinator in Josh McDaniels returning as the team’s offensive coordinator, while the team’s new defensive coordinator Terrell Williams has coached defensive linemen for 28 years.

But according to multiple reports, Vrabel is making a concerted effort at filling out the rest of his staff with several former NFL head coaches below McDaniels.

According to The Boston Globe’s Nicole Yang, the Patriots are hiring a pair of former head coaches in Doug Marrone and Thomas Brown, with Brown set to serve as the team’s tight ends coach and pass game coordinator.

Marrone’s title in New England has not been announced, although he has extensive experience working with offensive linemen.

Marrone, 60, has previous experience as an NFL head coach, leading the Buffalo Bills for two seasons (2013-14) before coaching the Jaguars from 2016-2020. Despite his 23-43 record in Jacksonville, he did help lead the Jags to the 2017 AFC Championship Game, they came up short against the Patriots at Gillette Stadium.

Marrone spent this past year working with Bill O’Brien at Boston College, serving as a senior analyst for football strategy/research.

A former offensive linemen who was drafted in the sixth round of the 1986 NFL Draft, Marrone made several stops as an offensive-line coach at the collegiate ranks before carrying out similar duties in the NFL with the Jets (2002-05), Saints (2006-08; also offensive coordinator), Jaguars (2015-16), and the Saints again (2022-23) after a short stint on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama in 2021.

New England has a vacancy on their staff when it comes to the O-line, as former offensive-line coach Scott Peters took the same role with the Bengals last week.

According to Yang, the Patriots are also expected to hire veteran offensive-line assistant Jason Houghtaling. Houghtaling has plenty of experience working with Vrabel as an assistant offensive line coach with the Titans (2021-22) before being promoted as Tennessee’s lead O-line coach in 2023.

Both Marrone and Houghtaling will have their work cut out for them in 2025, with New England allowing 52 sacks last season — the most sacks relinquished by the Patriots since 1999.

Much like Marrone, Brown, 38, earned reps as an NFL head coach, albeit in an unconventional manner with the Bears.

Initially hired as Chicago’s passing game coordinator in 2024, Brown was promoted as the team’s offensive coordinator on Nov. 12 once Shane Waldron was fired. Brown remained in that role for just three weeks, as he was named the team’s interim head coach after they fired Matt Eberflus on Nov. 29.

While the Bears went 1-4 to close out the season under Brown, the former NFL running back is considered a rising star in the coaching ranks — elevating his stock while serving as an assistant on Sean McVay’s staff with the Rams.

Brown was the Rams running backs coach from 2020-2021 before being pomoted to assistant head coach in 2021. The following year, Brown was named the Rams’ tight ends coach along with his assistant head coach duties.

“He has always been a guy that has had incredible command. He’s been a great competitor,” McVay told Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic. “He’s going to attack it. I think guys will follow his lead… He commands respect by the way he handles himself—and he gives it back. I have always thought that he was a guy who would be a head coach at some point.”

Before landing in Chicago last year, Brown was the Carolina Panthers’ offensive coordinator in 2023.