FOXBORO, Mass. — Mike Vrabel needed a moment to think. He stood at a lectern, dozens of reporters and New England Patriots staffers staring at him, hanging on every word, but now, the question posed to him hung in the air.
All around him last Monday afternoon, there were signs of what the Patriots once were, remnants of a bygone era when the franchise sat alone on the NFL’s mountaintop. Vrabel noted the six championship banners hanging at the stadium. What those Patriots teams accomplished has no bearing on what his Patriots team will do now. “But it’s going to give us a blueprint,” Vrabel said.
This is where Vrabel became one of the best football players on the planet at the turn of the century, going from a backup to a three-time Super Bowl-winning All-Pro linebacker, where he was shaped by the greatest to ever wear a whistle. This is where his personality — brash, but with a touch of empathy — blended perfectly with a demanding coach, bolstering an up-and-coming team. It’s where the seeds of his own coaching career were planted.
Now, 16 years after he was shipped out in a trade to the Kansas City Chiefs, Vrabel is back, tasked with restoring the most dominant franchise of this century to the top of the NFL. Owner Robert Kraft chose Vrabel to bring stability and credibility back.
He isn’t back with the Patriots because of what he once was on the field, but rather who he is off it. Those who know him best describe him — in the nicest way possible — as an “empathic a–hole.” Quick with a quip but eager to lend an ear. Someone who can lay into a player and then move on minutes later like nothing happened, a positive relationship still intact. A ball buster and a technician. Honest and accepting. Most importantly for these Patriots, genuine and authentic.
Last week, Vrabel didn’t shy away from the expectations. AFC East titles. Home playoff games. Championships. The idea that with him in charge, the Patriots will be “hopefully just as successful.”
Now that he’s been given this weighty job, there’s that difficult question. Did he ever dream of this moment, of being named the head coach of the New England Patriots?
The truth is … complicated.
News of the Patriots’ free-agent signing of Vrabel in March 2001 ran on page F7 of The Boston Globe. It was below a story about Long Island University basketball and alongside the results from the previous day’s greyhound races. The story was all of three sentences.
After a record-setting career at Ohio State, Vrabel struggled to find his place with the Pittsburgh Steelers. No one questioned his knowledge of the defense, but the Steelers never settled on a position for him.
Bill Belichick, of course, loved those kinds of players. After not starting a single game over four years in Pittsburgh, Vrabel started 15 for the Pats in 2001, including the Super Bowl. He became a fixture of the dynasty. Along the way, he was one of the few players who could get away with needling Belichick.
Belichick loved spending time in the linebackers room. It was a stacked, veteran-laden group: Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi, Roman Phifer and, later, Junior Seau. At one point, Belichick got them all rocking chairs, poking fun at their age.
Belichick loved to show the group film from his New York Giants defenses of the 1980s. Lawrence Taylor, Harry Carson, Carl Banks and Pepper Johnson — they, Belichick noted, played the way linebackers were supposed to. Chad Brown, a member of the 2007 Patriots, remembers once, as Belichick waxed poetic while narrating Giants highlights, Vrabel leaned back in one of those rocking chairs.
“That f—ing guard is 260 pounds, Bill. The guy I’m playing this week weighs 325.”
Vrabel once showed up to a Patriots practice wearing Giants gear, a not-so-subtle ribbing of his head coach. He shouted at Tom Brady when the defense made stops during practice and spiked the ball next to Brady after interceptions.
“Mike certainly was not the fastest of linebackers,” Brown said, “but because he had such a great knowledge of the game and he knew what was asked of him mentally, he was on the same page with Tom and Bill.”
Scout-team reps were a chance for the defense’s veterans to catch their breath — except for Vrabel. He seemed to relish any chance to play with the backups, lining up as a safety and pretending to be Troy Polamalu, anything to continue talking trash.
“He was an annoyance at every position,” Troy Brown, his Patriots teammate for seven years, said.
Vrabel compiled 48 sacks and more than 600 tackles during eight seasons as a player in New England. (Rick Stewart / Getty Images)
When Scott Pioli left New England’s front office for the Chiefs’ general manager job in 2009, he wanted a player to come in and set the culture — who better than Vrabel? That February, he dealt a second-round pick to New England in exchange for quarterback Matt Cassel and Vrabel.
Pioli thought Vrabel would be pumped; playing under Belichick could be taxing. Instead, Vrabel was pissed. He had been upset about his contract with the Patriots and wanted a new deal. Still searching for that new contract when he arrived in Kansas City, Vrabel would sometimes give Pioli the silent treatment, ignoring him at the facility. At one point, Pioli called him out: You’re being unprofessional.
Vrabel, laughing, told The Athletic that he responded: “No, it would be unprofessional if I said what I wanted to say. This is me being professional.”
Eventually, Vrabel relented — and vented — to Pioli. He said he’d never had the chance to be a free agent, to choose his destination. If Pioli hadn’t made the trade the Patriots might have cut him, giving him his shot on the open market. Pretty much every time Vrabel and Pioli saw each other that season, Vrabel made his feelings known.
Pioli called it “the most important growth moment” in his 27 years in the NFL. He learned how to consider the human impact in a league with a lengthy daily transaction wire. Vrabel played out that final year of his contract with the Chiefs. Then he signed an extension to stay.
“This is part of the reason I think Mike is and has been a great coach,” Pioli said. “Because he empathizes and understands more feelings than someone who has never been in the shoes of a player. That doesn’t mean he’s going to acquiesce to their demands. But he’s going to consider their feelings.”
Around 9 a.m. on July 11, 2011, Vrabel announced his retirement from the NFL.
Around 11 a.m. on July 11, 2011, Vrabel was announced as the new linebackers coach at Ohio State. He replaced Luke Fickell, who had been promoted to interim head coach when Jim Tressel was fired.
By the end of Vrabel’s playing career, he’d morphed into a player-coach of sorts anyway. Some offseasons he’d spend coaching up his son Tyler’s kindergarten indoor flag football team in Columbus. Vrabel, still a Patriot, would wake up early, go to church and get some breakfast — and the games would start around 8 a.m. “It was a blast,” Vrabel said. Kirk Herbstreit’s son was on the team. “He talked to them the same way he talks to these (NFL) players,” Herbstreit said on an Amazon broadcast of a game featuring the Cleveland Browns, with whom Vrabel spent the 2024 season as a consultant.
As he mulled retirement, Vrabel had offers to coach in college from Fickell and Bill O’Brien, then Penn State’s head coach. On O’Brien’s first day as a low-level assistant with the Patriots in 2007, Vrabel was the first player to introduce himself and welcome O’Brien to the team. “I’ll never forget that,” O’Brien said.
But Fickell had an edge. As a player, he hosted Vrabel on his recruiting visit to Ohio State. They became roommates — Vrabel would cook, Fickell would clean. When they’d go out to eat, Vrabel would often pay for both of them and kept a running tab of how much Fickell owed him. Years later, he still tells Fickell he’s waiting for around $780.
Vrabel wanted to work at his alma mater, so he took the job at OSU. Looking back, he admits he dove into coaching without any sort of plan or idea of how to do it. “There’s no handbook,” he said. So, he coached how he was coached — which was a little advanced for teenagers.
“He just had to kind of figure it out because he’s an intelligent guy and the people that he was coaching, what could they handle?” Fickell said. “In his mind, he can handle anything. When you get into coaching, at any level, you’ve got to figure out, truly, what your guys can handle.”
When Urban Meyer was hired the next year, Fickell moved to defensive coordinator. When Vrabel interviewed with Meyer, it was “the worst interview that anybody’s ever had,” he said. Fickell convinced Meyer to give Vrabel another shot — he did, offering another interview eight hours later. Meyer still wasn’t convinced. So, rather than giving Vrabel the job, he gave him a trial run.
Fickell expected Vrabel to be turned off by that proposition. Instead, Vrabel embraced it. He won over Meyer and spent the next two years coaching up the defensive line. The intensity from his playing days carried over; in warmups before a 2012 game against rival Michigan, Vrabel head-butted a helmet-wearing Buckeyes player. He coached that day with a bloody, stitched-up forehead. The players loved him for his intensity — and because he looked out for them.
He’d hold meetings in the morning with his position group and often would have his student assistant, John Streicher, fetch breakfast for the players, on his dime. He’d host them for dinners at his house too.
“He probably didn’t make any money at Ohio State,” Streicher said. “He took care of his players like nobody else. They would, to a man, say that he was not only a great coach, but also like a father figure or a best friend.”
Fickell knows the perception of Vrabel, the headstrong former linebacker who doesn’t take s— from anyone. “Some people would say, well, there’s an arrogance to him. But there’s a humility that you might not see because of the way he comes off, his confidence level and his ability to speak,” Fickell said. “He understands that you get what you deserve and you get what you earn, no matter whether you’ve played for two years or 14.”
In 2014, O’Brien was hired as the head coach of the Houston Texans, and Vrabel was one of his first calls. When Vrabel was a player, it was his attention to detail that stuck out — he could see how a particular offensive lineman or wide receiver was lining up and could call out what was coming in the moment, even during games.
He carried that over into coaching. O’Brien said Vrabel would run clinics in the offseason to help educate Houston’s coaches on things like tackling techniques and their situational effectiveness. On the field, he’d wear a padded vest and get in the mix with the players — he still does now — lining up as an offensive lineman, going against defensive ends in edge-setting drills, blocking the likes of Jadeveon Clowney and J.J. Watt, bruised and bloodied and smiling the whole time. O’Brien called him “instrumental” in the development of players like Clowney and Whitney Mercilus. “He was the best assistant coach I ever had,” O’Brien said. Clowney, who also played for Vrabel with the Titans in 2020, said: “Everywhere I went after Houston was nothing compared to what he taught me. He gets the best out of his players.”
Added Detroit Lions defensive tackle D.J. Reader, who played for the Texans from 2016-19 and still keeps in touch with Vrabel, “As a player, you already respect him because you know who he is. He played that long in the league. Then as you get to meet him, you talk to him — he’s a guy’s guy. He’s normal. He’s not boring you with X’s and O’s all day. … If you’re in search of a guy who is really going to lead men … he’s definitely that guy.”
In 2017, O’Brien promoted Vrabel to defensive coordinator, anticipating that he’d soon start getting head-coaching interviews. He did after one season: first with the Lions, then the Indianapolis Colts and then, finally, he sold the Titans on his vision.
GO DEEPER
Former Patriots teammates silencing an old perception with satisfying media roles
In 2018, Vrabel’s first season as the Titans’ coach, linebacker Kevin Dodd walked into a team meeting after skipping OTAs and showing up a day late for training camp. The room was full, everyone was seated. Dodd went to sit in the front row. Vrabel shook his head.
That row is for players only.
He tried to sit elsewhere. Nope.
The room went silent. Eventually, Dodd got the hint, walked out and spoke with then-general manager Jon Robinson: He was being released.
Dodd was a second-round pick two years earlier, but nobody was above the team. Vrabel would always say: You’ll get treated how you treat the team.
During Vrabel’s early days in Tennessee, players would walk into team meetings on edge. At any moment, he might call on a player and quiz him in front of everyone. The players needed to not only understand the full breadth of the team’s game plan each week, but they needed to learn about everyone in the Titans organization. At random, Vrabel would pick a player.
What’s the janitor’s name?
He did this for the team’s stars, including A.J. Brown and Derrick Henry, just as he did it for those fighting to hold onto a roster spot — questions about the game plan, the opponent, his teammates, the Titans staff. He brought the same energy to his early morning routine when he’d work out and then camp out by the team’s training room. If a player hadn’t been practicing, he’d better be showing up on time for treatment. If not, he’d hear about it.
“I had to make sure that I’m doing my job to hold people accountable, to protect the team,” Vrabel told The Athletic in November. “It’s about how their behavior affects the team, and trying to show them how important it is about giving themselves to the team and putting the team first.”
Center Ben Jones said he and Vrabel used to cuss each other out, in front of the team, and it only strengthened their bond.
“He knew I cared. I knew he cared,” Jones said. “We both wanted to win. It came down to: hey, he was going to do what’s best for us. And so you had to trust him to do that. He was our leader.”
If at first Vrabel’s methods were intimidating, eventually the players understood where he was coming from — and appreciated that he didn’t simply treat them as numbers on a roster. He made it a point to learn all about their families, their backgrounds, their spouse’s names. When Jones’ daughter was dealing with some health issues, Vrabel would insist that he leave the facility early to be there for his wife. Often, Jones would bring his daughter to the facility on an off day. She’d walk straight to Vrabel’s office and start drawing on his whiteboard, which was full of plays he’d drawn up. “He didn’t care,” Jones said.
Cornerback Caleb Farley, a 2021 first-round pick, lost his father when their family home was leveled in a 2023 explosion, and Vrabel was there for him. “He always picked me up and lifted me up,” Farley said. “He pushed me. He taught me about what it means to be an NFL football player.”
Added Terrell Williams, then the Titans defensive line coach: “You always felt like you were working with him and not for him.”
The on-field buy-in started early in his first season. In Week 1, the Titans lost starting quarterback Marcus Mariota, both offensive tackles (Taylor Lewan and Jack Conklin) and star tight end Delanie Walker to injuries. Heading into Week 2 — a game against Houston and O’Brien, his old boss — the Titans were outmanned. But Vrabel laid out exactly how the Titans would win:
Run the ball 30 times.
Hold them to 17 points or fewer.
Force two turnovers — or win the turnover battle.
The Titans needed to hit two of those marks, Vrabel said. They incorporated some “Wildcat” runs with Henry and ran a successful fake punt with safety Kevin Byard throwing to safety Dane Cruikshank for a touchdown. They ran the ball 34 times. They held the Texans to 17 points. They forced one turnover and didn’t turn the ball over themselves. They won 20-17.
“Now everyone is at least buying in,” Vrabel said. “OK, there’s a way to win, somehow, every game. It may not be pretty, but this is what we may have to do.”
The three keys to victory became a crucial part of the Titans’ identity. That Texans game was the moment many in the organization felt players and coaches starting to buy what Vrabel was selling. His message was getting through — and it changed every week.
“He did that for six years,” Streicher said. “He could develop a plan based on an opponent and it could be totally different from the week before just because that’s what we needed in that week.”
In 2019, the Titans went on an improbable run to the AFC Championship Game, beating Belichick and Brady along the way. They went 11-5 in 2020 and 12-5 in 2021, when Vrabel was named NFL Coach of the Year. He was fired after two losing seasons and a falling out with Titans ownership, but he’d left his mark. (The Titans went 3-14 in 2024 under new coach Brian Callahan, and fired GM Ran Carthon after the season.) Vrabel’s Titans, often outmanned and underdogs, went 30-23 in one-score games. In his six years, the Titans had the third-best penalty margin in the league and Tennessee also outscored opponents by 50 points in the fourth quarter, when Vrabel was often at his best.
After a season as a consultant in Cleveland, Vrabel interviewed with the New York Jets on Jan. 3, before the Patriots season had even ended. It created a somewhat awkward situation at the Jets facility — while he was talking to them, the team (led by interim coach Jeff Ulbrich, who he’d have been replacing) was practicing on the field. But for a few hours, Vrabel won the room over — a room that included owner Woody Johnson. The Jets wanted to hire him, and his interest was genuine.
A few days later, Kraft fired Jerod Mayo after a disastrous first season as head coach. The firing came hours after the Patriots’ season-ending victory over the Bills. The Jets quickly lost hope. Vrabel took another interview with the Chicago Bears, while the Patriots were open to being blown away by Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson. But once Mayo was fired, it was no secret who New England was targeting to replace him. Vrabel interviewed in Boston on Jan. 9 and then camped out in the area for a few days, awaiting his fate. The Bears and Jets tried calling at the last minute to sway him, but it didn’t work. Less than a week after the Patriots’ wrapped up a dreadful 2024 season, the job was Vrabel’s.
Vrabel officially made his return to Foxboro on Jan. 13. (Billie Weiss / Getty Images)
Last week at his introductory news conference, Vrabel mentioned that he’d had a chance to pursue a spot on Belichick’s staff. But sometimes, to get where you want to go, you have to leave where you’re comfortable.
Vrabel’s road back to the Patriots didn’t start in New England, but that didn’t change the fact that this is where he wanted to be, and that’s especially true at this moment.
Vrabel told The Athletic this fall that he was prioritizing three things in his next job: an open dialogue with the owner, true collaboration with the general manager and a quarterback. The Patriots could offer all three.
“I might remind everyone in this room, in 2019 he beat us right here in the playoffs,” Kraft said in his opening statement at Vrabel’s introductory press conference last week. “It was Tommy’s last game as a Patriot.”
That day, Vrabel used Belichick’s own tricks against him. The Titans held a 14-13 lead late in the game when Vrabel instructed his Titans to purposefully take three penalties in a row — delay of game, false start, neutral zone infraction — which killed an additional minute of game clock thanks to a loophole in the rules. On the opposite sideline, Belichick lost it. Vrabel tried not to smile, but he couldn’t help himself.
Standing next to the stage five years later, Vrabel smirked.
He’s a man shaped by a variety of experiences but has remained consistent throughout. Still, that question tripped him up. Did he always dream of this?
“When I started my coaching career, I felt like it was important to forge my own path somewhere else, and if all those experiences led me back here at the right time and the right opportunity, then that was going to be what was meant to be.
“When I started my coaching career, I said, man, let’s go, and let’s see where we can go and take this and work with other people. If the time’s right to go back, then there will be a right time.”
Colton Pouncy and Joseph Person contributed reporting to this story.
(Illustration: Will Tullos / The Athletic; Photos: Billie Weiss / Getty Images, Robert Seale / Getty Images)
