After recent years of toxicity and tumult, the New England Patriots are turning to a decisive and confident former star player with a track record of getting the most out of his roster.
The Patriots are hiring Mike Vrabel as their next head coach, according to league sources, a less-than-shocking move that had been foreseen because of Vrabel’s impressive resume and connection to the franchise as the Pats struggled through a disappointing 4-13 campaign that led to Jerod Mayo’s firing after just one season.
The Patriots are hiring Mike Vrabel to be the franchise’s next head coach, per @DMRussini.
The first head coaching vacancy of this year’s cycle is set to be filled. pic.twitter.com/LKCDpON39j
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) January 12, 2025
For the Patriots, it’s a splashy hire after they turned to a successor-in-waiting following Bill Belichick’s departure after 24 years. They’ve been a franchise without an identity or stability for the last two years, and Vrabel provides both in spades. He delivers instant credibility and is viewed by his colleagues as one of the NFL’s top coaches following a six-year tenure with the Tennessee Titans that included an appearance in the AFC Championship Game, being named the 2021 coach of the year and two seasons with 11 or more wins despite never having an elite quarterback.
Vrabel, who could have had several opportunities as arguably the league’s most sought-after available coach this cycle, lands in a familiar spot with an owner he respects, a young quarterback on the rise and the most cap space in the NFL to quickly tweak the roster as he sees fit.
The reunion is a homecoming for Vrabel, a former standout linebacker with the Patriots who was inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Fame in 2023 after winning three Super Bowls as a key member of the first dynasty. Even after his differences with owner Robert Kraft while Vrabel was a leader of the NFL Players Association during collective bargaining negotiations in 2009, Vrabel has always spoken with reverence for the Patriots organization.
He was so glowing in describing how “special” the Patriots were during his Hall of Fame induction speech that it ruffled some feathers back in Tennessee where he was still the Titans coach.
But that admiration for the Patriots helps explain why Vrabel was interested in the job a year ago — and why it was his first choice in this hiring cycle.
He, too, was the Patriots’ first choice. They interviewed three other candidates before landing on Vrabel: Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson; Byron Leftwich, most recently the offensive coordinator with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; and Pep Hamilton, who was last the Houston Texans’ offensive coordinator in 2022.
But after the final years with Belichick ended poorly and Mayo’s sole year was defined by inexperience, the Patriots opted for a proven former head coach.
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Vrabel, now 49, landed the Titans job in 2018. They won nine games his first season, reached the AFC Championship Game the following season and then won 11 and 12 games in 2020 and 2021. Amid changes to the front office and roster, Vrabel’s teams struggled his final two years, winning seven games in 2022 and six in 2023, which led to his dismissal.
While Vrabel spent eight years as a player for Belichick, he never coached under him and isn’t seen as being from the Belichick coaching tree. He spent three years at Ohio State to begin his coaching career, then worked under Bill O’Brien with the Houston Texans for four years before landing the Titans gig.
He spent the 2024 NFL season as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns, a way to stay engaged with the game and learn how other organizations are run during his hiatus from a head job.
Now, he’s headed back to New England.
The road ahead isn’t going to be an easy one for Vrabel. He’s inheriting a team coming off back-to-back 4-13 seasons. The roster is depleted. The 2024 draft class is coming off a rough rookie season outside of Drake Maye.
Plenty of significant questions lie ahead, ones that will determine how successful his tenure is. Who will be his offensive coordinator? How do the Patriots get better at wide receiver and on the offensive line? How quickly can he establish his culture for an organization in need of a revamp?
But for now, the Patriots have landed the coach they were hoping for when this search began, a former player with deep ties to the franchise who they’re hoping will restore the team to prominence.
Required reading
• NFL owners show their ineptitude and impulsivity with quick coach, GM firings
• Why the Patriots’ head-coaching job is the best one available this offseason
• Robert Kraft owns up for world to see … the Patriots aren’t what they used to be
(Photo: Nick Cammett / Getty Images)
