The New England Patriots have found their next head coach. And it’s a familiar face. The club has hired Mike Vrabel, who won three Super Bowl championships with the franchise as a player, to lead the organization as its head coach going forward, according to multiple reports and confirmed by CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones. This hiring comes after Vrabel interviewed for the job in Boston on Jan. 9.
Vrabel comes aboard after the Patriots decided to fire fellow former linebacker turned coach Jerod Mayo after just one season on the job. Mayo was owner Robert Kraft’s hand-picked successor to Bill Belichick — who parted ways with the organization after the 2023 season — but his first year with the team was marred by a 4-13 record and, as Kraft noted in his end-of-season press conference, a regression down the stretch.
That was enough for the team to hit the eject button on Mayo’s tenure and will now be looking to Vrabel to turn the tide on what has largely been a downtrodden team since Tom Brady’s departure following the 2019 season. More recently, New England has failed to reach the playoffs in three straight seasons where they also own 16-35 record over the stretch.
While those prior performances leave little to be desired, the Patriots should be looked at as an attractive renovation project for Vrabel, who is getting his second crack as a head coach in the NFL. That’s because of quarterback Drake Maye, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, flashing his potential as a legitimate franchise quarterback throughout his rookie season. On top of that, the Patriots have other young pieces like cornerback Christian Gonzalez along with the most cap space in the NFL this offseason along with the No. 4 overall selection at the 2025 NFL Draft.
That will arm Vrabel — along with executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf — with enough ammunition to try and get the franchise back on a winning trajectory.
As previously noted, this is a homecoming for Vrabel, who played nine seasons for the franchise from 2001-2008. In that time, the now 49-year-old was a part of three Super Bowl championship teams and has been considered one of the greatest players in franchise history. In 2023, Vrabel was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame.
Despite that history with the franchise and subsequent transition to coaching, Vrabel never coached under Belichick as he came up through the ranks. Instead, he began his coaching career at Ohio State as a linebackers coach in 2011. He eventually broke into the NFL as a linebackers coach with the Houston Texans in 2014 and was promoted to the team’s defensive coordinator for the 2017 season.
After that, Vrabel was hired as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, a job he held for six seasons before being let go after the 2023 season. In that time, he went 54-45 during the regular season and 2-3 in the playoffs, which included a trip to the AFC Championship during the 2019 season. In 2021, he was named NFL Coach of the Year after leading Tennessee to a 12-5 record, which included an AFC South division title. During that tenure, Vrabel did gain a reputation as one of the better in-game coaches in the league, which will be embraced as he begins this latest chapter with New England.
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Author: Tyler Sullivan
January 12, 2025 | 11:35 am
