When the Patriots set up interviews for the week after Jerod Mayo’s firing, only one candidate was projected to give Mike Vrabel a run for his money.
New England deserves criticism for the start of its coach search, which featured disingenuous interviews with Byron Leftwich and Pep Hamilton. But after the Patriots spoke with Vrabel, Robert Kraft and company virtually met with another highly coveted candidate.
Ben Johnson had an interview with the Patriots on Friday, and one report claimed the Detroit Lions offensive coordinator impressed New England enough to reevaluate its search. That rumor proved to be overblown, as the Patriots officially hired Vrabel on Sunday morning.
Shortly after the Vrabel announcement, Boston Sports Journal’s Mike Giardi shared insight on Johnson’s candidacy in Foxboro, Mass., if you even want to call it that.
“The Ben Johnson stuff…was the fallback. And a leverage play,” Giardi posted to X. “Vrabel was choice 1, 2 and 3.”
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The Patriots clearly were all-in on Vrabel, which might have been why the organization acted so fast to remove Mayo after the season finale. But after another offseason in which New England brass only seriously considered one candidate, the pressure on Kraft and Vrabel will be very high in 2025.
Featured image via Junfu Han/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images
