Report: Patriots Considered Mike Vrabel as HC Last Year Despite Jerod Mayo Contract

The New England Patriots hired Mike Vrabel to serve as the team's head coach on Sunday.

According to ESPN's Mike Reiss, however, the team had interest in him as a candidate last offseason as well:

"The possibility of Vrabel becoming the Patriots' coach traces back to last year. New England had language in Jerod Mayo's contract to become Belichick's successor, but team sources said Vrabel's unexpected availability in Jan. 2024 after being fired by the Titans made some within the team wonder whether those plans should be shelved in favor of Vrabel. They ultimately were convinced enough in Mayo to stick with the original plan. That Vrabel remained available in 2025, and was interviewing with the AFC East rival New York Jets, adds a layer of context to the decision."

Mayo's lone season in charge didn't go well—the team finished 4-13 and holds the No. 4 overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, where it could look to address any number of needs by bolstering the roster on the offensive line (Kelvin Banks Jr., Texas), on the edge (Abdul Carter, Penn State), at cornerback (Will Johnson, Michigan), wide receiver (Tetairoa McMillan, Arizona) or on both sides of the ball (Travis Hunter, Colorado).

In Mayo's defense, he inherited a team with a distinct lack of talent and a rookie quarterback in Drake Maye. Vrabel will be inheriting that same roster, but the Patriots now have a quarterback to build around and can go to work retooling the talent around him.

Mayo also may not have been ready for the gig. As Chad Graff of The Athletic reported, "in describing how and why things went wrong for Mayo and the Patriots, team sources pointed to a few things. Mayo, they felt, tried too hard to be 180 degrees different from Belichick, then struggled to apply and uphold discipline after positioning himself as a players' coach."

"I feel terrible for Jerod because I put him in an untenable situation," team owner Robert Kraft told reporters after firing Mayo. "I know that he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league. He just needed more time before taking the job."

Vrabel, on the other hand, brings far more experience to the job, having spent six years as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans (2018-23), going 54-45 with three playoff appearances and two postseason wins. He also served as the linebackers (2014-16) and defensive coordinator (2017) for the Houston Texans and as a consultant for the Cleveland Browns (2024).

Mayo, meanwhile, had only coached in New England under Bill Belichick before ascending to head coach. As Graff noted, that gave him a reduced network to call upon while he attempted to fill out his coaching staff last offseason, leading to a number of coaches serving in prominent roles for the first time.

The Patriots will hope that Vrabel can hit the ground running, and Vrabel will hope the team can bolster those efforts with an aggressive approach to free agency and a strong draft. In Maye and Vrabel, the organization has reason for optimism.