Mike Vrabel is expected to interview with the Patriots today. And according to one former player who started his career with New England, and later played for Vrabel with the Tennessee Titans, the choice for Robert Kraft is an easy one.
Just open up the checkbook, cede the necessary control, and do whatever it takes to sign Vrabel.
That’s Logan Ryan’s take.
He enjoyed playing for both Bill Belichick and Vrabel during his football career. And given Vrabel’s likeness to Belichick as a coach, Ryan believes the Patriots Hall of Famer is without a doubt, the best man for the job.
“I think he’s the best coach for New England. It’s a perfect fit,” Ryan told MassLive Wednesday. “I thought they should have hired him last year. But I respected Kraft for keeping his word to (Jerod) Mayo. I don’t love the decision to let go Mayo, what more could he have done? But Kraft realized he had to get out of it, and this is his opportunity to get Vrabel.
“(Vrabel) knows what he’s doing. He knows how to win games and he’ll do what it takes to win games,” Ryan went on. “If New England wants a winner, they’ll go get Vrabel.”
From holding the best players accountable, to showing “low-light” tapes, to outsmarting opposing coaches, Vrabel not only impressed Ryan, but a host of Titans players.
The similarities to Belichick are striking. Starting with the infamous low-lights, it all sounds incredibly familiar.
“You go to some teams, after a game, get the highlights, all the touchdowns, all the great plays,” Ryan explained. “Bill brings out the low-lights. All the mistakes. All the things we could have done better, all the missed opportunities, all the good plays that should have been great plays, all the turnovers that we had.”
When Ryan signed with the Titans in 2017, after spending his first four seasons in New England, it was like deja vu the minute the defensive back walked out to his first training camp practice. Vrabel, like Belichick, harped on all the negative plays.
“I was used to it. But it shocked our Tennessee Titans locker room,” said Ryan, a two-time Super Bowl winner with the Patriots. “All of our best players, our highest paid players were being challenged. And they weren’t used to that, seeing all of their lowest plays. And that’s kind of embarrassing. So you don’t want to be on that tape.”
Ryan believes Vrabel challenging the star players – Belichick was especially hard on Tom Brady – sparked some great seasons from the most important players.
“You’re not going to win games if your best players don’t play their best consistently,” Ryan said. “He definitely challenged the best players to the same accountability as the bottom players on the roster. It’s not like that everywhere, and it doesn’t work everywhere.”
In Mayo’s stint as head coach, he steered away from the tough-love approach largely because some believe today’s players are different. They don’t respond to that kind of coaching. Ryan, who retired after last season after playing for five different teams (Patriots, Titans, Giants, Buccaneers, 49ers), disagreed.
“I think Dan Campbell challenges his players. I know Kyle Shanahan does. So it depends if there’s a balance. But I played for Vrabel in 2020, and it wasn’t that long ago, and I saw Derrick Henry rush for 2,000 yards,” Ryan said. “If you go to other organizations, there are superstars in those organizations that never get challenged, not one day. And I felt like (Vrabel) came in and started challenging guys the same way he’d challenge the bottom of the roster.
“If you win, guys appreciate it. For me, I never played for a good coach that didn’t challenge players. I can’t think of one in my career, and I’ve been to a lot of different playoffs and a lot of different teams. The reality is, if you’re not willing to play good football, are you being held accountable? The lack of accountability ruins teams, it ruins locker rooms.”
Mayo announcing he was benching running back Rhamondre Stevenson because of his fumbling issues, then changing his mind and starting him anyway during the Los Angeles Chargers game Week 17, is one example of where the recently fired Patriots coach went wrong.
Ryan made of point of saying he doesn’t think the Patriots top job is for everyone. He believes it takes a special type of coach to succeed in New England.
“I feel like that job can only go to a certain amount of people. Vrabel just checks all of those boxes for that job in terms of just leadership,” Ryan said. “He’s been there, he understands what it means to the fans, he understands how to handle the expectations and he’s a leader of men.
“He’s exactly how he was as a player, as a coach. A great leader of men in the locker room. Very demanding, but it’s nothing he doesn’t demand of himself.”
Ryan said players know when coaches are fake, or not being themselves. They know when coaches are acting out-of-character, trying to be something they’re not. That’s not the case with Vrabel. While he might be like Belichick, it’s not forced.
“Players can feel if you’re not being yourself. I felt like players felt when Matt Patricia wasn’t being himself. Or Josh McDaniels wasn’t being himself. They didn’t like playing for those guys,” Ryan said. “So in my opinion, Vrabel has some similarities to Bill, but that’s who Vrabel was.
“Vrabel’s also a trash-talker. Bill’s not a trash-talker. Vrabel’s a trash-talker in practice. I’m sure if you covered him as a player, he was a trash-talker as a player … guys understood he was an alpha, that’s his personality. You’re not an alpha coach if you’re a nerd, rocket scientist coach who is trying to act like an alpha. Guys see right through it. You’re not tough. So I think Vrabel is himself. I’d talk trash right back at him. But it was good playful banter.”
Ryan is in the camp that believes a head coach in football is more important than other sports in terms of impacting wins and losses. He saw that initially with Belichick, and then Vrabel.
He was immediately taken by how good Vrabel was in games.
“I was blown away by how smart he was as a coach, as a strategist, an in-game strategist,” Ryan said. “He really gave us an advantage not only schematically defensively, but just using strategy at the end and knowing exactly what to do situationally.”
Ryan, of course, recalled how Vrabel one-upped Belichick when the Titans played the Patriots in the playoffs during the 2019 Wild Card round.
The Titans were clinging to a 14-13 lead. They were forced to punt with the clock ticking with just under six minutes left in the game. Instead of punting, the Titans took a delay of game penalty. That drained 25 seconds. Then, there was a false start – intentional of course – that kept the clock bleeding. Because they weren’t inside five minutes, there was no automatic stoppage for the whistle. Later, Brady wound throwing a pick six – with Ryan doing the honors – as Vrabel helped beat Belichick with one of his tricks.
“Yeah, he beat Bill at his own game with the punt rule. He used it against Bill to ice a game,” Ryan said. “And he beat a lot of coaches at the game like that. Stuff you guys didn’t see while I was there.
“He gives you a true advantage on the sideline. I think he’s the best coaching candidate this year, from the ones I know. I had heard that he was a really, really smart player. But then I saw it from him as a coach.”
Ryan also talked about differences from Belichick, and highlighted one in particular. He recalled how Derrick Henry would have a different practice schedule than everyone because of Henry’s workload during games. Vrabel understood the need to protect his star back.
“Derrick got 40 carries in a game, so his practice looked a little different. That was smart. In New England with Bill, everyone had the same exact practice,” Ryan said. “He didn’t care how many carries you had, or how many snaps you played.
“Travis Hunter doesn’t have the same practice in college as the other players, because he plays 150 snaps. That makes sense. If Travis Hunter played for the Patriots with Bill, he’d have to play every snap in practice.”
The power structure will be important if Vrabel is ultimately named the next Patriots coach. As Ryan stated, Vrabel has an alpha personality, and sometimes that rubs people the wrong way.
“He’s going to bash heads sometimes with his coaches. He’s going bash heads with other people who have opinions,” Ryan said. “That’s just his personality. Take it or leave it.”
Ryan believes if the Patriots are smart, they’ll take it and land the prize. They’ll bring home the best available coach on the market. It should be noted that while Vrabel had a winning record in Tennessee, he went 6-18 his final 24 games.
“In Tennessee, it didn’t work out not because he wasn’t a good coach,” Ryan said. “He understands how to win games. Like Bill, if we needed to run it 40 times, we were going to run it 40 times. It would change from week to week.
“Look, this guy can coach, he can really coach,” the former Patriot went on. “In my mind, he’s one of the best coaches in the NFL for sure.”
One that needs to wind up back in Foxborough.