Pats Pulpit
Vrabel spent the 2024 season as a consultant in Cleveland.
Mike Vrabel spent only one season as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns, but it was enough to leave a lasting impression on general manager Andrew Berry.
Meeting with the media at the Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, Berry sang Vrabel’s praises and wasted no time reminding the New England Patriots that they should count their lucky stars they were able to hire him as their new head coach.
“Mike’s awesome. He has this infectious energy. He’s a ball coach. He loves being on the grass. He loves being with the players. He loves developing young coaches,” Berry said.
“He can coach any position on the field, and he has more knowledge in his pinky finger than probably most people would in 20 years of football. New England’s very, very, very fortunate to hire him. I think he’ll do a great job.”
Vrabel joined the Browns last offseason, after getting fired from his previous job as head coach of the Tennessee Titans. He served as a consultant to the coaching staff and front office, but his contract eventually expired without any plans of the two sides continuing to work together.
Vrabel confirmed as much during his own Combine presser on Tuesday.
“Enjoyed my time. I appreciate Jimmy and Dee, the entire Haslam family, Andrew and Kevin [Stefanski], and the relationships that I got to make there,” he said. “But there was no conversation about any long-term plans there. I would have listened, because I didn’t have a job at the time.”
Vrabel and the Browns not being in each other’s long-term plans was no surprise. The 49-year-old, after all, knew he would be one of the most popular head coaching candidates during the 2025 hiring cycle.
He eventually ended up interviewing with three teams before agreeing to return to New England, where he won three Super Bowls as a Pro Bowl-level linebacker in the early 2000s. Despite the success he had as an active player with the Patriots, and later as an assistant and head coach, however, Berry believes he will bring an “endearing” level of humility to his new position at One Patriot Place.
“You got to understand Mike was a highly accomplished player at Ohio State, highly accomplished player in New England, coached big-time football, great DC in Houston, and then Coach of the Year in Tennessee,” he said. “And despite all that he’s accomplished, he has the humility of a first-time QC coach in the league. I think that’s something that’s really endearing to the people that work with him.”
