For the second year in a row, the New England Patriots are conducting a “search” for a Head Coach.
And, as some suggest, it may be a sham search for the second year in a row. This offseason, it looks like Mike Vrabel is the heir apparent, and the thought here is that it's a very good thing (albeit a year late!).
The Patriots ownership had made a commitment to Jerod Mayo years ago (not a good idea), and he got the job. The problem was that Mayo had exactly zero years of NFL Head Coaching experience. Predictably, he flopped.
Now, the second search post-Bill Belichick is on, and again, this time in a positive way, it looks like it may be foreordained for Vrabel. Mike Vrabel was the guy in 2024, and he is the guy in 2025. Huzzah, they're finally getting it right. Detriot Lion's assistant coach, Ben Johnson's name, is being floated this year. He's this offseason's young coach du jour. Yet, like Mayo, he has no head coaching experience in the NFL or elsewhere.
Many are looking to Ben Johnson as the next Patriots coach, but, beware!
The Krafts cannot possibly hire Ben Johnson or any other untested football coach as their Head Coach this season. It would be an invitation to disaster and one they’d rightfully deserve. So why shouldn't they go in this direction with a promising young offensive coach?
The Patriots canned long-time Head Coach/GM Bill Belichick and replaced him with Mayo, an untested rookie Head Coach. Belichick had every right to be unappreciative of being summarily dismissed, and as for hiring Mayo, he must have known the team would come to regret all of it. They have.
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Mayo had never been a head coach at any level of football. And that's where the connection between Mayo and Johnson arises. Having experience in any job is always a good thing. Now, some will raise the age-old argument, well, how can you get experience in a job unless you get the chance? It's a point well taken.
But there is a definite reason why, in this specific case, it is an essential attribute of the next Head Coach of the 2025 New England Patriots. And as good and promising as Ben Johnson may be, he can't be the one for the Patriots this season.
The Patriots learned the NFL is no place for on the job training
In many occupations, moving up to the top spot after being groomed for years in a position allowing you to get lots of experience is the way to the top. (That is if internal politics don't intervene.) In the NFL, there is little room for this luxury.
Now, one may rightfully argue that the dynamic would have been changed if Kraft hired an experienced Head Coach in 2024 and had similar results. It's a valid argument. He'd have done the right thing in 2024 and would have every reason to try a new direction in 2025.
Had Kraft hired Vrabel (who was indeed available after the 2023 season) or another bona fide NFL former Head Coach, and he had been a failure, then the rationale for hiring a dynamic young coach like Ben Johnson now would make lots more sense. He didn't, and it now doesn't.
Hiring another neophyte, no matter how promising, is a prescription for disaster. Learning on the job in the NFL as a Head Coach is not always a great idea. Head Coaches get fired on occasion, and it is a learning experience for them, painful as it may have been.
Yet, after seeing Mayo overwhelmed by the rigors of that NFL role, it is a non-starter to go back to the untested well again with Ben Johnson, no matter how promising he may appear. The Patriots will do what they should have done last offseason and hire Mike Vrabel.
Accompanied by bringing in a capable personnel head (whom Vrabel may demand to hire), expect a major overhaul of a dismal Patriots roster. The Patriots will get a seasoned head coach in Vrabel, one who has undergone all the rigors and faced all the pitfalls of NFL Head Coaching for seven years to help him through. If Vrabel is hired, expect lots of kudos here. It's the right thing to do.