Have the New England Patriots settled on a new head coach?
The team is now in negotiations with former Tennessee Titans head coach – and long-time Patriots linebacker – Mike Vrabel, according to Fox Sports’ NFL Insider, Jordan Schultz. The Boston Globe’s Nicole Yang has also reported the Patriots’ negotiations with Vrabel.
The 4-13 Patriots recently fired first-year head coach Jerod Mayo, who had come under fire after replacing New England legend Bill Belichick before the season.
Vrabel is one year removed from his own dismissal in Nashville after 54-45 over six seasons. He was fired after a 6-11 campaign in 2011.
New England spokespeople did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for confirmation.
The Patriots recently interviewed Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson on Friday, while Vrabel has spoken with the Chicago Bears and rival New York Jets about their respective head-coaching positions.
The 49-year-old led Tennessee to three playoff appearances from 2018 to 2023. The 2019 team advanced to the AFC championship game, losing to Patrick Mahomes and the eventual Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. Tennessee combined to go 23-10 the next two seasons while capturing back-to-back AFC South championships, only to finish 7-10 in 2022 and 6-11 in 2023.
Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel argues a call during a game against Jacksonville
The 4-13 Patriots previously fired first-year head coach Jerod Mayo (pictured), who had come under fire after replacing New England legend Bill Belichick before the season
Vrabel was a hard-nosed linebacker who played on three Super Bowl championship teams during a 14-year career with Pittsburgh, New England and Kansas City from 1997 to 2010. He was All-Pro with the Patriots in 2007.
He also moonlighted at tight end in goal-line situations, catching 10 passes over his impressive career.
Team owner Robert Kraft said this week that he is seeking a coach to fill a broad set of needs.
‘You need someone who players can relate to and respond to, but they need to have a team around them that has product knowledge, in-game adjustments, knowing what their system is, just a lot of things coming together,’ he said.
Vrabel, a fan favorite over eight seasons in Foxborough, was considered to be the preferred candidate because of his long association with the franchise and coaching success during his six seasons in Tennessee.
In hindsight, Kraft now believes Mayo wasn’t quite ready to be an NFL head coach.
The Patriots team owner said Monday that his abrupt firing of Mayo just minutes after he completed his first season in the job is an effort to correct that mistake.
‘This whole situation is on me. I feel terrible for Jerod. Because I put him in an untenable situation,’ Kraft said a day after relieving the 38-year-old Mayo of the coaching reins following a 4-13 finish. ‘I know he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job.’
Kraft said that the team’s win over Buffalo on Sunday which cost the Patriots the No. 1 overall pick in April’s NFL draft didn’t play into the dismissal.
Instead, he said Mayo went from his ‘high point’ winning Patriots’ season opener at Cincinnati to regressing midway through the schedule. He then didn’t show enough signs of improvement the rest of the way.
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft answers a question during a media availability
And after watching back-to-back dismals seasons for a franchise that won six Lombardi trophies over the past two-plus decades, the 83-year-old owner who referred to himself as ‘a fan of this team first’ vowed to do what he can to see it return to a championship level.
‘I don’t want to go through this next year. And we’re going to do what we’ve got to do to fix it,’ Kraft said.
That will begin with moving quickly to interview candidates for a job that is one of the most attractive in the league for several reasons: New England’s futility this season still earned it the No. 4 pick in the draft, rookie Drake Maye established himself as a potential franchise quarterback, and the Patriots enter the offseason with more than $130 million in salary cap space – the most in the league.
What this course correction won’t include – for now at least – are major changes in the front office, with Kraft confirming that executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf and senior personnel executive Alonzo Highsmith both are returning next season.
Wolf and Highsmith will also both be involved in the coaching search, along with Kraft’s son and Patriots team president Jonathan Kraft.
