Patriots
“This is a time when Vrabel used it to his advantage, and it was against the mastermind Coach Belichick.”
Count former Patriots Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski among those giving the Patriots a seal of approval after they made the call to hire Mike Vrabel as head coach.
Even though both Edelman and Gronkowski arrived in Foxborough after Vrabel’s eight-year run with the Patriots came to an end in 2008, Edelman believes that Vrabel’s experience as one of the key cogs on an elite Bill Belichick-led defense makes him an ideal candidate to turn around a rebuilding roster in 2025 and beyond.
“He’s played on every phase of the game at a high level, in an important game,” Edelman said during a recent episode of the “Dudes on Dudes” podcast with Gronkowski, adding: “He can break down, guy for guy, because he’s done it at the pro level, on defense. He knows everything about defense, because he basically was in the school of doctorates on the defense, through Belichick, learning through him.
“And then actually being on the field and experiencing it is another way he gets to coach guys. … . He can break down the whole game, and he’s a masculine figure that’s gonna make you do it, right?,” said Gronkowski. “And if you don’t, he’s gonna mother(expletive) you and get rid of you. He’s gonna make people accountable. That’s how it was. The Patriot Way was developed through these guys.”
Vrabel might have won three Super Bowls in New England while playing for Belichick, but his road back to Foxborough was the result of charting out a coaching career that wasn’t rooted with the Patriots.
Vrabel began his coaching career at his alma mater with Ohio State (2011-13) before joining Bill O’Brien’s staff with the Texans (2014-17) — advancing all the way up to Houston’s defensive coordinator role.
He eventually carved out a six-year run as head coach of the Tennessee Titans — taking home NFL Coach of the Year honors in 2021 while earlier defeating the Patriots in the 2019 AFC Wild Card Round.
Even though Vrabel didn’t learn coaching under the tutelage of Belichick, he managed to get the upper hand against his former coach during that 2019 playoff bout.
In that matchup, Vrabel dove into the rulebook and managed to shave close to two minutes off the clock in the fourth quarter without running a single play — limiting the amount of time Belichick, Tom Brady, and the Patriots had to try and orchestrate a late-game rally.
Vrabel and his staff chewed some precious time by getting called for both an intentional delay of game and an intentional false start during a punt situation — exploiting a loophole (now shored up by the NFL) where teams would intentionally draw penalties while the clock is running, which means the game clock would continue to tick down after the penalty was enforced.
It was a savvy move by Vrabel, one that drew the ire of Belichick on the opposing sideline — even though Belichick orchestrated a similar strategy earlier that same season against Adam Gase and the New York Jets.
“I mean, he kind of outplayed Belichick in that situation, because Belichick was the master of knowing the rules inside and out and using that to his advantage,” Gronkowski said of Vrabel. “And this is a time when Vrabel used it to his advantage, and it was against the mastermind Coach Belichick. Pretty incredible by him to do that.”
While both Edelman and Gronkowski have been impressed by Vrabel’s presence, experience, and football IQ, they also stressed that New England’s front office now needs to make a concerted effort at upgrading this roster in the coming months to support their new head coach.
“You gotta get some linemen. … They got a whole lot of money to spend,” Edelman added. “Now, knowing Mike through the years that I’ve known him, I’m sure he took this job knowing that he is going to be able to spend some money.”
Sign up for Patriots updates🏈
Get breaking news and analysis delivered to your inbox during football season.
