Vrabel is one of four remaining candidates linked to the Patriots’ head coaching vacancy.
Could New England go straight from one former Patriots linebacker as head coach to another? It appears that might be a realistic outcome of the team’s ongoing search for a new HC.
Mike Vrabel, after all, is widely considered the frontrunner to end up filling the position opened up by the firing of Jerod Mayo. Whether the Patriots Hall of Famer will indeed return to the fold remains to be seen, but it is not hard to see why the organization views him in a favorable light — both in terms of his past ties, and his coaching credentials.
With that being said, let’s take a closer look at Mike Vrabel and why he is an attractive candidate from New England’s point of view.
Hard facts
Name: Mike Vrabel
Opening day age: 50 (8/14/1975)
Current position: N/A
Coaching stops: Ohio State (2011-13), Houston Texans (2014-17), Tennessee Titans (2018-23), Cleveland Browns (2024)
Interview status: Completed (1/9/2025)
Experience
Playing experience: Vrabel spent the early parts of his football career in his home state of Ohio. After playing high school ball at Walsh Jesuit in Cuyahoga Falls, he joined the University of Ohio in 1993. He quickly proved himself a disruptive player and eventually left Columbus with a school-record 36 career sacks under his belt. Vrabel was named consensus All-American in 1996 and voted first-team All-Big Ten three times in four seasons.
After his college career, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected him 91st overall in the 1997 NFL Draft. Vrabel went on to appear in a combined 53 regular season and playoff games for the team, notching 8 total sacks.
His career really took off after he joined the Patriots as a free agent in 2001. Over the next eight years, Vrabel became a cornerstone of the team’s defense and saw action in 125 regular season games and 17 playoff contests. Not only did he register 56 total sacks along the way — 8 of which in the postseason — he also caught 11 interceptions and recovered 7 fumbles. Additionally, he scored 10 passes on 10 receptions as a part-time tight end.
When Vrabel left New England in 2009, he did so as a three-time Super Bowl champion as well as a one-time selection to both the first All-Pro team and the Pro Bowl. Vrabel later was named to the franchise’s Team of the 2000s and 50th Anniversary Team, and enshrined in the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2023.
Vrabel ended his active career with the Kansas City Chiefs, who acquired him via trade alongside quarterback Matt Cassel in 2009. He played 30 games over two seasons as a Chief, registering the same number of sacks and receiving touchdowns (2).
Coaching experience: Vrabel retired in 2011 to join Jim Tressel’s staff at his alma mater, Ohio State. After working as linebackers coach in his first season, he moved to the defensive line the following year under new head coach Urban Meyer and co-coordinators Luke Fickell and Everett Withers. Future NFL defenders Joey Bosa, Ryan Shazier, Tyquan Lewis and Johnathan Hankins were among the players Vrabel worked with in Columbus.
In 2014, he left the college ranks to head to the NFL. Former Patriots assistant coach Bill O’Brien hired him as part of his Texans staff, installing him as linebackers coach under another ex-Patriot, defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel.
Vrabel worked in that role for three seasons before eventually succeeding Crennel as DC in 2017. Even though Houston ranked 32nd in the NFL in points allowed that year, Vrabel was hired as head coach of the Titans.
He served in that role for six seasons, going 54-45 in the regular season and 2-3 in the playoffs. The Vrabel-led Titans won two AFC South titles along the way (2020, 2021) and qualified for the playoffs three times (2019-21).
Among the other highlights of his coaching tenure were beating the Patriots in Foxboro in what turned out to be Tom Brady’s final game for the team, and advancing all the way to the AFC title game later in the 2019 playoffs. However, Vrabel’s Titans failed to win a postseason game in each of his final four seasons — including the final two were they failed to qualify for the tournament altogether.
Finally, after a 6-11 season in 2023, Vrabel was fired by the team. Despite his experience and successes as a coach, he did not end up getting another head coaching gig in 2024. Instead, Vrabel joined the Browns as a consultant in coaching and personnel matters.
His contract expired in December, making him a coaching free agent again.
Tennessee perspective
To get a more comprehensive look at Johnson, we touched base with Jimmy Morris of Music City Miracles. Jimmy was kind enough to answer some questions about Vrabel and what he would bring to New England.
How would you assess Mike Vrabel’s time as Titans head coach?
That’s an interesting question. He took over a team that had just won a playoff game and sustained that success early on. He was billed as a “leader of men” and you could certainly see that during his time here. His teams played hard for him every single time they were on the field. He was also really good at maximizing talent. The Titans suffered a record amount of injuries during his final three seasons on the job. If he hadn’t of butted heads with Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk (AAS) over the hiring of Ran Carthon he would probably still be the coach here.
What went wrong in the end?
It’s a longer story than this, but basically when the Titans fired general manager Jon Robinson in December of the 2022 season, Vrabel wanted Ryan Cowden, who was basically Robinson’s right hand man, to be the general manager. AAS hired Ran Carthon instead. Rumor is that Vrabel didn’t think Carthon was ready to be a GM. Maybe he was right considering the Titans fired Carthon earlier this week. That created a rift between Vrabel and AAS and was probably the biggest contributing factor to him ultimately being fired.
The Titans also lost their last seven games in the 2022 season and then went 6-11 in the 2023 season. A lot of that was due to injuries and terrible drafting from Robinson, but compiling a 6-18 record over a 24 game span is going to be tough for a coach to overcome.
Anything he did particularly well, or struggled with, coaching the Titans?
The thing he did the best was get the most out of the players he had available to him. The Titans used 91 players in 2021 — the season they were the No. 1 seed in the AFC. That is a record for players used in a season. The fact that he was able to win using that many guys is pretty remarkable. They also used 86 players in 2022 in a season they started 7-3 but faded with the seven losses down the stretch.
His biggest struggle was consistency on the offensive side of the ball. His first two offensive coordinators, Matt LaFleur and Arthur Smith, ultimately got hired as head coaches. The next two hires, Todd Downing and Tim Kelly, didn’t work out and that made it hard for the team to score points. They failed to reach 30 points in a single game in both the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Would he be a good head coaching hire for the Patriots, and what could fans expect from him?
He’d be a good hire for sure. My biggest question would be who he can bring in to run his offense and what system he will allow them to run. He had Derrick Henry during his tenure here, so the Titans were obviously going to be a run first team. He didn’t seem to want to get away from that even when Henry was hurt or ineffective. With that being said, he is a phenomenal culture builder and will get the guys to buy into the brand of football he wants to play.