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The New England Patriots and Washington Commanders had an eventful joint practice today, which not only resulted in a fight, but it also brought two old friends back together: Mike Vrabel and Kliff Kingsbury.
While each of the men has long established themselves as coaches, Vrabel, the current Patriots head coach, and Kingsbury, the Commanders’ offensive coordinator, were, at one time, teammates in Foxborough.
For one full season and a subsequent training camp, Kingsbury was on the Patriots’ roster after being drafted with the 201st overall pick by Bill Belichick in 2003. There, he shared a locker room with not only starting quarterback Tom Brady, but also Vrabel, who signed with New England in 2001.
Vrabel, who was known for his sense of humor even as a player under the relatively humorless Belichick, did not waste the opportunity to prod Kingsbury when asked about the Washington coordinator.
“What does Vrabel remember about briefly being teammates with Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury in New England?” the Boston Herald’s Andrew Callahan wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“Vrabel: ‘He wasn’t better than Tom Brady.’
“Called Kingsbury a good friend.”
What does Vrabel remember about briefly being teammates with Commanders OC Kliff Kingsbury in New England?
Vrabel: “He wasn’t better than Tom Brady.”
Called Kingsbury a good friend. pic.twitter.com/h4gJoSNkb3
— Andrew Callahan (@_AndrewCallahan) August 6, 2025
Kingsbury, a sixth-round draft pick out of Texas Tech, spent the entirety of the 2003 NFL season injured before being cut the following fall. He bounced around between multiple teams’ practice squads for years after that, only playing in one NFL game with the New York Jets, before finishing his playing career in the Canadian Football League.
Soon thereafter, he began his meteoric rise through coaching; less than five years after his first coaching gig, he became the head coach of his alma mater, and in 2019, after being fired by Texas Tech, he was hired as the Arizona Cardinals’ head coach. Following his dismissal by Arizona, he worked for USC for a season and then joined Dan Quinn’s staff as offensive coordinator ahead of last season.
Vrabel’s coaching journey has been much more traditional. After a nearly 15-year NFL career, he returned to his own alma mater, Ohio State, where he was a position coach for three years. He then became a linebackers coach with the Houston Texans, who promoted him to defensive coordinator in 2017. The following year, he was tapped by the Tennessee Titans to be their new head coach.
Vrabel spent six seasons in Tennessee, leading the Titans to three playoff appearances, including an AFC Championship Game in January 2020, but parted ways with the team after back-to-back losing seasons in 2022 and 2023. After spending last year as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns, Vrabel succeeded former teammate Jerod Mayo as the Patriots’ head coach.
The Patriots and Commanders will play each other in their respective preseason openers on Friday in Foxborough.
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