Mike Vrabel Early Favorite For Patriots HC Vacancy?

NBC Sports’ Tom Curran says it’s fair to say former Titans HC Mike Vrabel is the No. 1 candidate for the Patriots following the firing of former HC Jerod Mayo.

That’s a common link in NFL circles as well, per Mike Giardi who polled several of his league sources. All of them expected Vrabel to be New England’s next head coach. 

The link makes considerable sense on paper, as Vrabel had an outstanding playing career in New England and is a member of the team’s Hall of Fame. Both sides think highly of each other, and the Patriots have a lot going for them now that the job is available. 

Curran explains the last four games coming out of the bye week pushed the Patriots into an untenable position with Mayo. There were two non-competitive blowouts, a collapse against the Bills and a meaningless Week 18 win in which both teams seemed to be playing with higher priorities than winning.

Beyond that, Mayo’s unforced errors off the field continued. Jeff Howe says people in the Patriots’ previous regime thought Mayo needed more experience with game planning, involvement in play calling and handling bigger situational decisions. The way the season played out reinforced their criticisms. 

Moving forward, the Patriots have to conduct a full search, including complying with the Rooney Rule which they did not have to do last year because Mayo was promoted. They’ve already requested an interview with Lions OC Ben Johnson, the other top candidate in this cycle, and that could be an indication things aren’t just open and shut with Vrabel, who also should have his pick of jobs. 

Another potential complication is the front office. Curran says the sense is New England wants to stick with the current front office, helmed by de facto GM Eliot Wolf. Mark Daniels points out Vrabel may want to hand-pick his own personnel lead after how things ended with the Titans.  

Vrabel, 49, began his coaching career with Ohio State as their linebackers coach back in 2011 after a 14-year playing career as a linebacker with the Steelers, Patriots and Chiefs.

After several years with the Buckeyes, Vrabel was hired by the Texans as their linebackers coach in 2014 and wound up being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2017. The Titans hired Vrabel as their head coach back in 2018. 

Tennessee opted to fire Vrabel last offseason. He spent the 2024 season as a personnel consultant with the Browns.

In six years with the Titans, Vrabel compiled a record of 52-41 with three playoff appearances and a 2-3 playoff record. He was also named the 2021 coach of the year. 

We’ll have more on Vrabel and the Patriots as the news is available.