Title: The Patriots Tap Three-Time Super Bowl Champ Mike Vrabel as Their New Head Coach
The hunt is over in Foxborough.
The New England Patriots officially named Mike Vrabel as their 16th head coach on a Sunday, following the conclusion of the regular season and the termination of Bill Belichick's successor, Jerod Mayo last week. ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the agreement.
Being the frontrunner, Vrabel, 49, had interviews lined up with the Patriots in Boston on Thursday. After leaving meetings with the New York Jets and Chicago Bears, Vrabel's interviews showcased his ambition to head a team that once traded him away.
Vrabel boasts an impressive three-time Super Bowl champion record, as well as induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame. Before joining the Cleveland Browns as a coaching and personnel consultant in 2024, he led the Tennessee Titans to 54 wins, 45 losses, and 2 postseason victories, positioning the team to win AFC South titles and secure a spot in the AFC title game.
Now, the 2021 AP NFL Coach of the Year takes on the challenge to revitalize a locker room that has struggled in recent seasons. In 2024 and 2024, the team recorded a disappointing 4-13 record and could not win a playoff game since Super Bowl LIII. Vrabel's previous playoff matchup against quarterback Tom Brady's team ended with a 20-13 defeat at Gillette Stadium.
Starting his coaching career at Ohio State under Luke Fickell and Urban Meyer, and later moving to the Houston Texans, Vrabel was poised to build an entirely new staff and make the most of the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft. With $130 million in projected cap space and a promising sophomore quarterback, Drake Maye, Vrabel is set to energize the Patriots.
Vrabel becomes the third head coach to take charge at Foxborough in just three hiring cycles, following in the footsteps of the 72-year-old man he played for and the 38-year-old he played alongside. Vrabel joined the NFL in the third round of the 1997 class and appeared in 142 games across his career, before finishing as a Hall of Fame member in 2023.
The search for a coaching staff will be the first task on Vrabel's New England Patriots to-do list. The first two candidates were past NFL offensive coordinators Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton. Ben Johnson, the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator, was the final candidate to interview for the vacancy before Aaron Glenn declined.
[1] https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/VraMi0.htm[2] https://www. cbssports.com/nfl/news/patriots-news-updates-label-mike-vrabel-as-frontrunner-for-head-coach-job/00ccm0be-688e-434d-8dbb-537b36970852/[3] https://www. bostonherald.com/2025/01/29/patriots-hire-mike-vrabel-as-next-coach/
The following points have been extracted from the enrichment data:
- Mike Vrabel's coaching record included a regular season win-loss record of 54-45 and a postseason record of 2-3.
- Mike Vrabel was hired as the New England Patriots' head coach in January 2025.
- Mike Vrabel's coaching tenure with the Tennessee Titans lasted from 2018 to 2023.
- The link to Mike Vrabel's coaching record from Pro-Football-Reference is https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/VraMi0.htm.
- Two more sources for the story have been provided: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/patriots-news-updates-label-mike-vrabel-as-frontrunner-for-head-coach-job/00ccm0be-688e-434d-8dbb-537b36970852/ and https://www.bostonherald.com/2025/01/29/patriots-hire-mike-vrabel-as-next-coach/
- The New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft welcomed Mike Vrabel as their new NFL head coach, replacing Bill Belichick's successor, Jerod Mayo.
- Following his successful tenure with the Tennessee Titans, Mike Vrabel, who played for Belichick and was a teammate of Jerod Mayo, will now lead the New England Patriots, a team that once traded him.
- With Mike Vrabel as their head coach, the New England Patriots, currently struggling in recent seasons, will look forward to the guidance of a three-time Super Bowl champion and former All-Pro linebacker, who won AFC South titles and secured a spot in the AFC title game during his time with the Titans.
