Patriots Take Crucial Step Toward Hiring Three-Time Super Bowl Winner as Coach

A quick two hours after last Sunday’s season-ending 23-16 win over the Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft moved quickly to fire rookie head coach Jerod Mayo. Less than one week later, reports strongly indicate that the Patriots have finished their coaching search and made a decision as to who they want to lead the team’s rebuild after back-to-back 4-13 seasons.

“The Patriots have entered contract negotiations with their lead head coaching candidate Mike Vrabel, according to a league source,” Nicole Yang of The Boston Globe reported on Saturday. “Although a deal has yet to be finalized, Vrabel remains the favorite for New England’s head coaching opening after interviewing Thursday.”

Vrabel served as head coach of the Tennesse Titans from 2018 through 2023, leading the team to an overall 54-45 record with three playoff appearances in six seasons, including a trip to the AFC Championship Game in the 2019 season. Vrabel and the Titans lost that game 35-24 to the Kansas City Chiefs who went on to defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LIV.

Vrabel A Key Member of Patriots ‘Dynasty’ Teams

The 49-year-old Vrabel’s head coaching career began just eight years after he retired as an active NFL player. A linebacker, Vrabel was named All Pro in one season, 2007. He spent eight years of his 14-year playing career with the Patriots and was a key member of the franchise’s first three Super Bowl championship teams, in 2001, 2003 and 2004. He was also part of the 2007 team when New England went 16-0 in the regular season but ultimately lost the Super Bowl to the New York Giants.

Vrabel was inducted into the New England Patriots Hall of Fame in 2023.

By initiating contract negotiations with Vrabel, Kraft — who with his son, team president Jonathan Kraft, has led the coaching search — would appear to be indicating that he has found his man. If Vrabel and the Patriots fail to come to an agreement, however, the process of replacing Mayo gets far more complicated, “given the limited scope of their process so far and the league’s rules surrounding interviewing employees of teams still in playoff contention,” Yang wrote.

The Patriots also interviewed Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, via teleconference. Vrabel’s interview was conducted in person, but not at the team’s home of Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. Instead, the interview took place in the Boston area. Why?

Lions DC Declined Chance at Patriots Top Job

“One possibility on the Boston piece … owner Robert Kraft lives in Chestnut Hill, and perhaps having Mike Vrabel at his home as part of the interview adds more of a personal dynamic to it,” speculated longtime Patriots beat reporter Mike Reiss of ESPN.

The Patriots also sought to interview another member of the Lions’ coaching staff, defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn. But Glenn declined the interview. The only other prospective head coaches interviewed were former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich — who played nine NFL seasons including four as the starting quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, and former offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans Pep Hamilton.

Hamilton has previous pro football head coaching experience, though not in the NFL. In 2020 he coached the DC Defenders of the XFL.

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