While Mike Vrabel faced the Pittsburgh Steelers twice this season as a consultant for the Cleveland Browns, he’ll do it again next season running a team, as the New England Patriots have hired Vrabel to be their next head coach, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media.
Vrabel was fired by the Tennessee Titans following the 2023 season and spent the year working with the Browns. He was one of the hottest candidates during this head coaching cycle, and he returns to New England, where he had most of his success during his playing career.
He began his career as a member of the Steelers, as the team took him in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft. He spent four seasons with the Steelers before heading to New England as a free agent, where he played for eight seasons and is a member of the Patriots Hall of Fame.
During his first head coaching stint at Tennessee, Vrabel went 54-45 and led the Titans to three postseason appearances in six seasons. The Patriots fired head coach Jerod Mayo after just one season and now turn to a former team legend to try to rebuild their culture.
New England was an attractive opening due to their expected abundance of cap space this offseason and second-year QB Drake Maye, who showed some nice flashes as a rookie. The Steelers are set to face the Patriots on the road next season, and New England is now led by one of the highest-regarded coaches around the league for what he was able to do in Tennessee. If Arthur Smith remains with the Steelers, it will also be a reunion of sorts, as Smith served as Vrabel’s offensive coordinator in 2019 and 2020 with the Titans.
Prior to being hired as Tennessee’s head coach in 2018, Mike Vrabel worked as the linebacker’s coach and defensive coordinator for the Houston Texans. Prior to that, he had a stint at Ohio State as their linebackers coach in 2011 and then the school’s defensive line coach from 2012-2013.
