REPORT: Jets used as smokescreen from Vrabel to pressure Patriots
On January 3, 2024, the New York Jets hosted former Tennessee Titans Head Coach Mike Vrabel at One Jets Drive as he interviewed for their open head coaching position. This interview shocked many because it was on such short notice, and Vrabel was expected to be the hottest candidate available during this offseason's coaching carousel. The former Titans Coach went 54-45 in six seasons with the team and made three playoff appearances. Under Vrabel, the Titans went as far as the AFC Championship game in 2020 but would lose to the Patrick Mahomes-led Kansas City Chiefs in 2020. The Titans won the division twice under Vrabel but would miss the playoffs with losing records in his final two seasons, which led to his firing last offseason.
Vrabel was credited for the revival of the Titans organization and was heavily respected for his time there after winning NFL Coach of the Year in 2021. Instead of rushing into a job, he spent this past season working as a coaching consultant for the Cleveland Browns. His contract ended about a week before the season, making him eligible to interview for positions. Vrabel was expected to be heavily pursued by the Jets and Raiders. The Jets realized they could really use a coach like Vrabel. He was someone who helped turn a loser team into a respectable team. It would've been precisely what New York had been looking for. The Raiders became an immediate landing spot because of the ties he has with minority team owner Tom Brady, and they'd been looking for a coach with attributes similar to those stated previously. However, these job openings did not seem to be enough for Vrabel.
It is no secret that Mike Vrabel played for the Patriots and won three championships with them in the mid-2000s. After being fired by the Titans last season, Vrabel was a candidate for the Patriots as Bill Belichick departed from the organization. Yet Patriots Owner Robert Kraft would hire Jerod Mayo as Belichick's successor. The move was met with some skepticism as candidates like Mike Vrabel, Jim Harbaugh, Dan Quinn, and Ben Johnson were all available in that coaching cycle and had more experience than Jerod Mayo. However, this decision would all come crashing and burning due to how bad the Patriots' roster was. Mayo coached his way out of having the worst record and missing the first overall pick with a win in the season finale against the Bills (without Josh Allen) in Buffalo and would finish with a 4-13 record. Mayo was expected to keep his job, but everything changed after Vrabel's interview with the Jets. The Patriots fired Mayo right after the season finale, and Vrabel was immediately linked to the job as he changed his X/Twitter profile picture to a picture from his time as a player for the Patriots. And just like that, the Jets were again used as a smokescreen, this time for the Patriots to hire a marquee head coaching candidate. Feels familiar. It was later confirmed by Aditi Kinkhabwala that the Vrabel-Jets interview was a tactic by Vrabel's team to put pressure on Robert Kraft to make the Patriots' job available. The Patriots job includes a young QB, Drake Maye, on a rookie contract, $100M+ in cap space and the fourth overall pick in the draft. This is a dream for any head coach and one that Mike Vrabel will now live.
In order to fulfill the "Rooney Rule" requirements, the Patriots interviewed two black coaches on the same day to meet those requirements. They would later interview Ben Johnson, then Mike Vrabel. Shortly afterward, Vrabel was announced as the head coach. Many criticized how "under the radar" the Patriots' decision to rush through interviewing their black head coaching candidates went with the media. The story was not picked up by the media, but many fans were offended at how the Patriots rushed through these interviews to get past the "Rooney Rule" requirements that needed to be fulfilled in order to offer Vrabel a contract. Fans exclaimed that Pep Hamilton and Byron Leftwich weren't "serious" candidates. Both coaches had been out of the league for two years. Fans also compared "if" the Jets, Cowboys, or any other notable big franchise did this, it would've been met with immediate criticism. Robert Kraft is a lucky man.
After realizing that Vrabel would likely be headed to New England, the Jets made a final last-ditch offer to him, but they were unsuccessful. The Jets should've known that there was some sort of ulterior motive for Vrabel's eagerness to interview with them so early. The Jets made it abundantly clear that Vrabel was their top candidate, and they lost him to a smokescreen in New England.
