Pro Football Rumors
The Patriots thought they hit rock bottom in 2023, culminating in the ouster of legendary head coach Bill Belichick. Somehow, things looked even uglier under replacement Jerod Mayo, and owner Robert Kraft was quick to pivot to the second head coach of the post-Belichick era in New England.
Mike Vrabel will now be tasked with turning around a once-renowned franchise that’s looking to avoid its fourth straight losing season, a feat they haven’t achieved since the early 1990s. Of course, Kraft couldn’t only count on a coaching change to turn around the team’s fortunes. The owner also opened the checkbook, committing more than $350MM in free agency to help provide some much-needed talent to one of the league’s worst rosters. At the same time, the team also bid farewell to its last remaining on-field links to its former Super Bowl glory.
It’s a new era in New England, a phrase that’s been uttered several times since Tom Brady and later Belichick departed. The team’s offseason moves will go a long way in determining if this new era is only temporary.
While the Patriots planned for years to have Jerod Mayo replace Bill Belichick as head coach, the former All-Pro linebacker only lasted a season as the franchise leader. Expectations were tempered heading into the 2024 campaign; Mayo still managed to disappoint during his lone season on the sideline.
Reports cited a lack of preparation, discipline, and development (especially on the defensive side of the ball). Robert Kraft later acknowledged his mistake to automatically hand Mayo the job, as no other HC candidates (due to a clause in Mayo’s contract that circumvented the Rooney Rule) were interviewed, and the Patriots owner was now set to hire his second coach in a post-Belichick era.
While the organization engaged in a faux coaching search that featured names like Ben Johnson, Byron Leftwich, and Pep Hamilton, Mike Vrabel always appeared to be the lead candidate for the job. A former fan favorite in New England, Vrabel had a relatively successful coaching stint in Tennessee, where he guided the Titans to three playoff appearances and four winning records.
The Titans fell to seven wins in 2022 before a six-win showing in 2023, and with rumblings of a power struggle in the front office, Vrabel was ousted following a six-year stint as Titans head coach. He spent the 2024 campaign as a consultant for the Browns, and he entered the 2025 offseason as one of the top HC candidates on the market.
He landed in the logical spot in New England, where he may have full roster control. The Patriots retained front office leader Eliot Wolf...
