The New England Patriots have a new head coach, their third in three years. Former Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel was named by team owner Robert Kraft on Sunday to take over from another former New England linebacker, Jerod Mayo, who was fired after one season in the job when the Patriots went 4-13.
Mayo had been hired almost exactly one year earlier to take over from the legendary Bill Belichick, who is widely considered the single greatest NFL coach in the history of the league. Belichick presided over six Super Bowl victories in his 24 years at the Patriots helm, in nine total trips to the NFL’s championship game. His Patriots teams made postseason play in 18 of Belichick’s seasons, and played in the AFC Championship game 13 times including a stretch from 2011 to 2018 when New England played in eight AFC title games in a row.
But after a Belichick-led team finished a 4-13 in 2023, Kraft fired him too.
Belichick Gives His Unvarnished Opinion of Vrabel
Now a media commentator who will soon return to coaching, albeit in the college ranks at North Carolina (unless he changes his mind and takes an NFL job, particularly with the Dallas Cowboys who are reported to have him at the top of their wish list), Belichick was asked on Monday for his opinion of his old team giving Vrabel, who played his whole Patriots career under Belichick, Belichick’s old job.
The 72-year-old coach has often delivered blunt, brutally frank opinions about players, coaches and NFL executives during his year as a TV studio football analyst. But he had nothing but positives to offer about Vrabel, giving the 49-year-old who coached the Tennessee Titans for six seasons, his full endorsement.
“I think teams that he’s coached and the positions he’s coached follow very much in his playing style and his preparation style,” Belichick said, appearing on ESPN’s Pat McAffee Show. “So, I love Mike. I love everything that he stands for as a football coach, and I have a lot of respect for him. I’m sure he’ll do a great job.”
Belichick added that had “stayed in very close contact with Mike. So I have a ton of respect for Mike.”
Vrabel States, ‘I’m Not Bill, and I’m Not Bill Cowher’
Vrabel, however, in his introductory press conference on Monday, took care to separate himself from Belichick.
“I’m not Bill, and I’m not Bill Cowher, I’m not anyone other than me,” Vrabel said, as quoted by The Boston Globe. “I’ve taken those experiences, and I’ve tried to form what I believe is critical to the success of a football team and an organization. To say what those are going to look like, hopefully just as successful. And our goals will be to win the AFC East, to host home playoff games, and to compete for championships. That’s what it’s going to take.”
Vrabel started his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, who drafted him in the third round of the 1997 NFL draft. Cowher was the Steelers’ coach for the entire four years that Vrabel played there.
In six seasons as the Titans’ head coach, Vrabel won just nine more regular season games than he lost, and took the team to the playoffs three times, all in his first three seasons. His highlight came in 2019, his second season, when the Titans advanced to the AFC title game, only to lose to the Kanas City Chiefs, 35-24.
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Here’s What Bill Belichick Thinks of New England Patriots Hiring Mike Vrabel