Patriots name Mike Vrabel new head coach

Mike Vrabel (All Pro Reels, Wikimedia Commons)

The New England Patriots named Mike Vrabel of Akron, Ohio as the new head coach according to Field Level Media on Monday. Vrabel takes over from Jerod Mayo, who was one of three coaches fired at the conclusion of the 2024 National Football League regular season.

This is Vrabel’s second NFL head coaching job. His first was with the Tennessee Titans from 2018 to 2023. There was great surprise around the NFL when the Titans fired Vrabel on January 9, 2024. At the time, the Titans had a record of 54 wins and 45 losses for a winning percentage of .545. Three consecutive seasons of helping the Titans make the playoffs from 2019 to 2021 was not good enough to help Vrabel keep his job.

The Patriots made a coaching change after having the fourth worst record in the NFL last season at four wins and 13 losses. The only three teams that were worse were the New York Giants, and ironically the Cleveland Browns and Tennessee Titans at three wins and 14 losses. The reason why the word ironically was used in the prior sentence before the Cleveland Browns is because Vrabel was the Browns consultant this past season.

In addition to his time in Tennessee and Cleveland, Vrabel was with the Houston Texans from 2014 to 2017. He was the linebackers coach for three seasons and a defensive coordinator for one season. Vrabel also has three years of coaching experience at Ohio State as their linebackers coach and defensive line coach.

Vrabel played 14 seasons in the NFL as a linebacker with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1997 to 2000), New England Patriots (2001 to 2008) and with the Kansas City Chiefs (2009 and 2010). He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2007, and won three Super Bowls with the Patriots in 2002, 2004 and 2005. In 206 NFL games, Vrabel had 762 combined tackles (529 solo tackles and 233 assisted tackles), 11 interceptions for 73 yards, one pick six, 19 forced fumbles, nine fumble recoveries and 57 sacks.