Pats Pulpit
The Patriots will rebuild their coaching staff following their 4-13 season.
It’s a new era in New England, again. Just one year after the Patriots promoted Jerod Mayo to head coach, they were already looking for his successor: Mayo was fired shortly after his team’s 4-13 season concluded, making him just the second head coach in franchise history to go one-and-done.
A week later, the Patriots announced their new head coach: Mike Vrabel, a former linebacker for the team who also spent six years as Tennessee’s HC, will return to Foxboro to take over the vacant position.
Replacing Mayo with Vrabel is just be the tip of the iceberg for the Patriots, though. And whatever will happen, we will have you covered: please make sure to bookmark and regularly revisit our Patriots Coaching Staff Tracker.
Mike Vrabel (Head coach): The Patriots have their new head coach, and it is the person seen as the odds-on favorite throughout the process. Former New England linebacker and ex-head coach of Titans will fill the role last held by Jerod Mayo. Vrabel reportedly signed a multi-year contract to return to the team with which he won three Super Bowls over his eight-year tenure. | News | Analysis | Profile | Introduction
Josh McDaniels (Offensive coordinator): Twice an NFL head coach, McDaniels is slated to return for his third tour with the Patriots after spending 2024 as a free agent. The 48-year-old earned six Super Bowl rings with the organization dating back to 2001. He will now oversee the development of 22-year-old starting quarterback Drake Maye as offensive coordinator. | News | Analysis | Profile
Ryan Cowden (TBD): Cowden originally served as Titans director of player personnel before being promoted to vice president of player personnel in 2018 — the same year Mike Vrabel arrived in Tennessee. He concluded his tenure with the team in a brief stint as interim general manager in 2022, leaving the organization the following offseason to join the Giants as an advisor to their GM, Joe Schoen. | News
Jerod Mayo (Head coach): The Patriots took a gamble when they promoted the inexperienced Mayo to head coach in light of Bill Belichick’s departure last January. The move did not work out: the team struggled its way through the 2024 season, with the coach incapable of steering the ship in the right direction. As a result, he was fired less than a year on the job. | News | Analysis
Keith Jones Jr. (Defensive coaching assistant): Arriving in Foxborough under the Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship during training camp in 2022, Jones has now departed to become a defensive assistant coach at Appalachian State. He overlapped with Mountaineers head coach Dowell Loggains at Arkansas prior to joining the Patriots’ staff, and worked with the defensive line over the past two seasons. | News | Analysis
Chris Mattes (Director of football development): Mattes has been with the Patriots since...
