Sportsnaut
Mike Vrabel’s first preseason game as the head coach of the New England Patriots came against the Washington Commanders. It was notable because the Commanders’ offensive coordinator is Kliff Kingsbury, who was briefly a teammate of Vrabel’s in New England.
Ahead of the matchup, Vrabel was asked what he remembered about Kingsbury as a player. The coach humorously said that Kingsbury “wasn’t as good as Tom Brady,” and left it at that. That’s certainly true, as Kingsbury could barely stay on a roster while Brady is the greatest to ever do it.
This week, Vrabel is running into another head coach who was briefly a teammate of his- Kevin O’Connell. And, naturally, Vrabel was asked the same question he was asked about Kingsbury, and he didn’t switch up his answer at all.
“The same thing I said about Kliff Kingsbury – he wasn’t as good as Tom Brady,” Vrabel said.
O’Connell was drafted by the Patriots in the third round of the 2008 NFL Draft. That was O’Connell’s only season in Foxboro, and it was Vrabel’s last season. O’Connell would bounce around rosters and practice squads until 2012, and then he dove into coaching in 2015 with the Cleveland Browns.
O’Connell has had much more success as a coach than as a player. O’Connell was named the head coach of the Vikings ahead of the 2022 season, and has compiled a 34-17 record overall. The Vikings have had a top-10 passing offense in each of O’Connell’s seasons, and the coach has cemented himself as one of the game’s top offensive minds.
It will be a fun challenge for O’Connell to go against his old buddy Vrabel, who is a defensive-minded coach. The Patriots will take on the Vikings this week before ending the preseason against the Giants next weekend.
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