Mike Vrabel ‘Embraced’ This Aspect Of Browns’ Role, It’ll Benefit Patriots

FOXBORO, Mass. — Mike Vrabel made the most of his off-season.

Well, off-season in the sense he didn’t serve as a head coach for the first time in six years.

After being fired by the Tennessee Titans following the 2023 campaign, Vrabel joined Kevin Stefanski’s coaching staff in Cleveland. Vrabel, well-known for his knowledge and prowess on the defensive side, worked with Browns tight ends and offensive linemen. Vrabel also “embraced” the opportunity to work with younger players, he said.

The 49-year-old believes those teachings will help as he restarts his head-coaching career with the New England Patriots, who introduced Vrabel at Gillette Stadium on Monday.

“I think it well,” Vrabel told NESN.com a few hours after he was introduced.

It would be a welcomed development given the Patriots have a young quarterback and other up-and-coming players who certainly could benefit from development.

So how will Vrabel accomplish that goal?

“I think you have to get to know them, and you have to be able to be creative and figure out what they can do well. And enhance it,” Vrabel continued. “Then look at the areas of focus, be honest with them. We’ll need to make sure that our players understand — it’s imperative that we tell the truth, that we seek the truth and handle it. Because good players want to be coached, great players want to be told the truth.

“What do I need to do to get better? What do I need to do? And when they ask you that, and you’re honest with them, and not only honest with them but you help them get there, that’s something that really goes a long way with a player. These guys, most of them, I would say a high majority of them, want to be coached. They want to be pushed. They want to be held accountable to make themselves better.”

Vrabel represents the best coach to do it, and not strictly because what he accomplished during the 2024 campaign.

A veteran of 14 NFL seasons, Vrabel believes can relate to every player in New England’s locker room. He reflected how he first made an NFL roster because of his role special teams. He talked about signing with the Patriots and elevating into a veteran who produced at a high level, only to get traded to another team. He remembered how he was forced to start over.

“I feel like every player that sits in that meeting room, I can at some point in my career relate to and have a conversation about,” Vrabel said.

It’s one aspect of Vrabel’s takeover the Patriots undoubtedly will benefit from. Perhaps he’s even a better coach in New England than he was in Nashville because of that year in Cleveland.