FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Mike Vrabel has returned to the New England Patriots, who hired the former longtime player to become their new head coach.
The Patriots did not disclose terms, but sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter that Vrabel and New England agreed to a multiyear contract. The team confirmed the hiring Sunday morning, announcing Vrabel as the 16th head coach in franchise history.
Vrabel played linebacker for the Patriots from 2001 to 2008 and was an integral member of three Super Bowl championship teams. He served as Tennessee Titans head coach from 2018 to ’23, posting a 54-45 regular-season record and 2-3 mark in the playoffs, which included a trip to the AFC Championship Game in 2019.
Vrabel, the Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year in 2021, replaces Jerod Mayo, who was fired Jan. 5 after posting a 4-13 record in his one season as Patriots coach.
The Patriots also interviewed Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and former Houston Texans offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton for the opening.
While Vrabel is identified most as a Patriot from his playing career that also included time with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1997-2000) and Kansas City Chiefs (2009-2010), he has never served in New England as a coach. His coaching career began in 2011 working with linebackers at Ohio State, his alma mater.
Vrabel spent three seasons at Ohio State, then four with the Houston Texans, before his six-year stint as Titans head coach that ended when he was fired after consecutive losing seasons. In 2024, he was a coaching and personnel consultant for the Cleveland Browns.
Vrabel, 49, was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 2023 and shared his affinity for the franchise and owner Robert Kraft that day, saying, “this is a special place with great leadership, great fans, great direction and great coaching. … It’s not like this everywhere.”
Vrabel noted that day that it was only the fifth time he’d returned to New England since being traded to Kansas City in 2009, and he shared fond memories of his life there, including he and his wife, Jen, raising two sons, Tyler and Carter, in their early years.
As a player in New England, Vrabel was credited by head coach Bill Belichick for his fundamentals, commitment to team success, toughness, leadership, situational awareness and intelligence, among other things. Vrabel’s Titans teams mostly reflected that, with his command of game management — which include many things learned from Belichick — among the areas that impressed Kraft.
One example came in the Titans’ 20-13 road playoff win over the Patriots on Jan. 4, 2020, when Vrabel took advantage of a loophole in the rulebook that allowed him to burn 1:49 off the clock in the fourth quarter without running a play — helping keep quarterback Tom Brady off the field.
In his Patriots Hall of Fame speech in 2023, Vrabel said what he experienced in the locker room as a player in New England remains the standard of what he hopes to achieve as a coach.
“We held each other accountable, because there was trust, there was an understanding, a respect that you could say things that needed to be said to each other,” he said. “Every day that’s what I’m trying to recreate wherever I coach. I don’t know if we’ll get it, but every day I’m going to try because nothing was more important than the team.”
