Patriots Hire Mike Vrabel – But Are They Ready For The Tough Vrabel Culture?

Barely a week after firing head coach Jerod Mayo after a single season, the New England Patriots filled the spot with Mike Vrabel, 2021 NFL Coach of the Year and former Patriots linebacker.

The coaching search, though, differed slightly from what has become standard. Vrabel, as likely the top head coaching candidate on the open market, had his pick of teams – and sources close to him say that he had three parameters for potential teams:

1. A tight bond with an NFL team owner he can completely trust
2. A general manager who understands the player he covets mentally and physically
3. The capacity of both to withstand the pain and effort to meaningfully shape a team’s culture and locker room

Those requirements, particularly regarding management and ownership, easily eliminated destinations such as the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets. The Patriots were the easy pick—according to one source, “Nothing else [came] close.”

The hiring, though, was the easy part for the Patriots. Now comes the actual reshaping of the team.

“We’re gonna remove entitlement from our football team,” Vrabel said following the hire. “We’re gonna get everything that we’ve earned, from the head coach to the position coaches, all the way down to the players. We’re gonna earn the right to be here every single day.”

Vrabel, who was dismissed from his post as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans after a 6-11 2023 season, is known for emphasizing physical football and not flinching from criticism, even of his stars. Derrick Henry, the face of the Titans’ rushing attack, topped a thousand yards in five of his six years under Vrabel.

The 2024 Patriots, meanwhile, featured just one back with over 800 yards, while rookie quarterback Drake Maye had the third-most rushing yards on the team, with 421. A lot of the team’s woes come back to a weak offensive line – but one that Vrabel will be able to reshape with a top pick and over $100 million in cap space, the most in the league.

Both returning players and offseason adds, though, should come to training camp ready to take criticism. The Vrabel Culture has grown around not shying away from accountability, regardless of experience.

“The most important thing are the players,” said Vrabel in his opening press conference. “I want to provide a program that provides their ownership but also their accountability of each other and one they’ll be proud to be a part of and that they’re gonna fight for.”

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