Patriots hire Mike Vrabel as next head coach, completing brief search

Patriots hire Mike Vrabel as next head coach, completing brief search originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The New England Patriots have moved quickly to find their next head coach, and the outcome wasn’t a surprise at all.

Mike Vrabel is returning to Foxboro to be the 16th head coach in franchise history. He will replace Jerod Mayo, who was fired shortly after the team’s Week 18 win over the Buffalo Bills. Mayo lasted only one season in the role. The Patriots have finished 4-13 each of the last two seasons.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter both reported the news on Sunday morning and the team later confirmed.

The Patriots are hoping Vrabel’s coaching career in New England will be just as successful as his time as a player. Vrabel was a linebacker in Bill Belichick’s defense from 2001 through 2008 and played a key role in three Super Bowl-winning teams.

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

After spending two years with the Kansas City Chiefs, he retired following the 2010 season and quickly moved into coaching, taking jobs with Ohio State (2011-13) and the Houston Texans (2014-17) before landing his first head coach position with the Tennessee Titans in 2018.

Vrabel spent six seasons as Titans head coach before being fired in 2023. He led the Titans to the playoffs three times, including a 2019 AFC Championship Game appearance, but Tennessee failed to make the postseason in his final two years in charge.

The challenge facing Vrabel is enormous. The Patriots roster arguably is the worst in the league. However, the team does own the No. 4 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and has the most salary cap space (around $130 million) entering free agency. The Patriots also have a quarterback with star potential in Drake Maye.

It remains to be seen what other coaching and/or front office changes will be made with Vrabel’s hiring official. Will he bring in his own offensive coordinator, or will Alex Van Pelt stay? And what about defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington?

There’s plenty more work for the Patriots to do as this vitally important offseason continues, but they acted swiftly to find a new head coach: The team conducted interviews with just three other candidates — Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers OC Byron Leftwich and ex-Houston Texans OC Pep Hamilton — before hiring Vrabel.