The New England Patriots have confirmed the hiring of Mike Vrabel on a multi-year deal to become the 16th head coach in franchise history on Sunday.
Vrabel replaces the recently departed Jerod Mayo as New England pulled out all the stops to ensure that their former linebacker turned 2021 NFL Coach of the Year would return home to the franchise he played for between 2001 to 2008.
The 49 year old won 3 Super Bowls with New England as a player, and was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2023. Vrabel was one of the most sought after coaches during this season’s hiring cycle, with multiple teams reaching out to conduct interviews with the former Tennessee Titans coach.
However, it was likely the fact that the Patriots divisional rivals in New York were so enamoured with Vrabel which caused Robert Kraft & Co. to act as quickly as they did. According to reports out of Foxborough, the Patriots wrapped up interviews with Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton on Tuesday. Shortly after, they requested permission to interview Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn — an interview he ultimately declined — which subsequently cleared the path to get a deal done with Vrabel.
Multiple sources say that the last few days was simply a matter of landing on term and value for a deal, but that Vrabel and Kraft were in alignment that he would be reunited with his former franchise.
It’s worth noting that given his deep Patriots roots, and league wide respect as a communicator and his situational football knowledge, that all parties involved believe this could be the start of an extensive coaching career in New England for Vrabel. Bill Belichick was hired at age 47, making Vrabel 2 years older than when his former coach took over the Pats, and we all know how that relationship turned out.
While New England still has plenty of work to do on both sides of the football this offseason, having what many believe is a franchise QB in Drake Maye under centre, and a highly regarded young coach on the sidelines is a great start to the offseason for Patriots fans.
Photo: Neil Cornrich. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.