One of the top coaching candidates in the NFL this offseason may have a preferred destination in mind.
Mike Vrabel is well-regarded in NFL circles, and it is looking more and more clear that he will return to the head coaching ranks in 2025. Currently working with the Cleveland Browns as a consultant, he was the head coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018-23, including taking the team to the AFC Championship in 2020 and winning Coach of the Year in 2021. Unsurprisingly, the strong resume and downward trajectory of the Titans since his firing have Vrabel positioned rather well among coaching candidates.
The Las Vegas Raiders were linked with Vrabel, largely in part due to the need for a culture reset and his connections to Raiders part-owner Tom Brady. However, it appears Vrabel has another destination in mind, depending on if the job opens up.
“Mike Vrabel would be interested in coaching for the New England Patriots,” said Patriots insider Tom E. Curran. “I think that he looks at the Patriots, and despite the warts, says, I’ll go back there.”
Current Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo is in a similar boat to Raiders head coach Antonio Pierce. While the mistakes in Mayo’s first full year are not entirely his own fault, the 3-11 Patriots have not inspired much confidence, and Mayo has not done himself any favors in the process.
The jobs that Vrabel has been connected to the most have largely been due to personal connection. He has been linked to potential job openings for the Raiders and Ohio State University and, due to Vrabel’s time with the Patriots as a player from 2001-08, the Patriots job would line up with that philosophy.
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer went further, suggesting that Vrabel is not only in line for a coaching job in 2025, but he is already choosing a general manager to work with and assembling his coaching staff.
“I think he (Vrabel) has a real idea of what it should look like and what he would want it to look like going forward,” Breer said. “I think he’d bring a general manager with him. It’d probably be (former Titans director of player personnel) Ryan Cowden. I think he had an offensive coordinator in mind, maybe (Browns pass game specialist and tight ends coach) Tommy Rees, who’s with him in Cleveland, maybe (ex-Patriots offensive coordinator) Josh McDaniels.”
Whatever job Vrabel chooses, it sounds like the team would have to be willing to uproot an entire regime in order to bring him in. For the Patriots, that means removing Mayo and first-year general manager Eliot Wolf. For the Raiders, Tom Telesco would join Pierce on the unemployment line. While bringing in Vrabel is a benefit in and of itself, that is a lot of organizational movement to stomach for either franchise in the last two years.
Should the Patriots or Raiders move on from their head coaches this offseason, they will join every other team with a coaching vacancy in making a move on Vrabel. With plenty of opportunities on the table, Vrabel will have his choice of where he decides to go for next season.
