New England Patriots - NESN.com
During their preseason award predictions for the 2025 campaign, five NFL.com analysts picked Mike Vrabel to win Coach of the Year, while two predicted running back TreVeyon Henderson would capture the Offensive Rookie of the Year award.
Barring an unprecedented and miraculous second half surge, Henderson won’t be winning any hardware following his rookie season.
Vrabel could very well become the first New England Patriots leader to earn Coach of the Year honors since Bill Belichick in 2010, however.
While the Patriots are 5-2, atop the AFC East and one of the biggest surprises in the league, NFL staff writer Saad Yousuf of The Athletic didn’t rank Vrabel’s success on his list of the top five “Most impressive head coaching jobs so far.”
“The way the New England Patriots looked last year under Jerod Mayo, one would think that this year’s squad has undergone a complete overhaul, but that is not the case,” Yousuf wrote regarding Vrabel’s case. “Despite not having elite weapons around him, Drake Maye has taken a big step forward in his progression, even though the running game has struggled. This turnaround wasn’t entirely unpredictable, given that we had Vrabel’s tenure with the Tennessee Titans as a reference point, but it’s impressive nonetheless.”
In Yousuf’s defense, the five coaches he did chose for his ranking are all deserving.
Starting with his “most impressive” job, he included Shane Steichen of the Indianapolis Colts, followed by Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers, Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions, Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Liam Coen of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Vrabel’s hot start to the 2025 season isn’t anything new for the former Patriots linebacker, as he won the Coach of the Year award following the 2021 campaign.
