BILL Belichick opened up on the New England Patriots’ hire of Mike Vrabel as their head coach.
Belichick, 72, knows a thing or two about leading the Patriots and is currently the head coach of North Carolina Tar Heels football.
The New England Patriots announced the hire of Mike Vrabel as head coach last weekend[/caption]
The Patriots will hope Vrabel will be a worthy successor to Bill Belichick, who led the franchise to six Super Bowls in his legendary 24-year tenure[/caption]
Vrabel has returned to the franchise that he won three Super Bowls with as a player, and he’s now assigned to fill the shoes of his former head coach, the legendary Belichick.
After the move was official, Belichick revealed his thoughts on Vrabel reuniting with the Patriots.
On Tuesday, the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach appeared on The Pat McAfee and shared that he expects good things from Vrabel.
“I’ve stayed in pretty close contact with Mike Vrabel and I have a ton of respect for him, I think he does a great job, he prepares his teams well, they’re very good in situational football, they’re tough, they’re competitive, they’re smart, just as he was as a player,” Belichick said on the ESPN program.
“I love Mike. I love everything that he stands for as a football coach. I have a lot of respect for him, and I’m sure he’ll do a great job.”
The process to hire Vrabel came after the Patriots decided to fire Jerod Mayo after a 4-13 record in 2024.
New England has hired a former player as their head coach for the second year in a row, but Vrabel brings head coaching experience.
The 49-year-old was the head coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018-2023 and made the playoffs three times during that span.
Vrabel defeated Belichick in one of those appearances, upsetting the Patriots on the road at Gillette Stadium in what would be Tom Brady‘s final game with the organization.
This season, he took a one-year break from having a head coaching position.
Vrabel was a coaching and personnel consultant for the Cleveland Browns this campaign.
This will be the second time in the last year that the Patriots have attempted to find a worthy successor to Belichick.
The team has finished the last two seasons with a 4-13 record – the first coming from a Belichick-led squad.
During his introductory press conference, Vrabel called his relationship “special” with Belichick.
NFL division round schedule
Sat 18 Jan, 4.30 pm ET (ESPN/ABC) – Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs
Sat 18 Jan, 8 pm ET (Fox) – Washington Commanders at Detroit Lions
Sun 19 Jan, 3 pm ET (NBC) – Los Angeles Rams at Philadelphia Eagles
Sun 19 Jan, 6.30 pm ET (CBS) – Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills
The head coach did reveal that he won’t try to imitate Belichick’s coaching style, however.
Vrabel is now tasked with turning around the franchise’s fortunes after the end of the Brady-Belichick era.
He will coach a new franchise quarterback in Drake Maye.
The 2024 first-round pick Maye started 12 games as a rookie and posted 15 passing touchdowns against 10 interceptions.
New England will also have the No. 4 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and a massive amount of cap space to build around the 2024 first-round pick quarterback.
Vrabel won three Super Bowls as a linebacker for the Patriots[/caption]
