After the New England Patriots won their Week 18 game against the Buffalo Bills and slid down the 2025 NFL Draft order from first overall to fourth, the spotlight shifted to the future of Jerod Mayo as the head coach and potential firing looming.
It had been the conversation for most of the past several weeks and heated up with the season ending on Sunday, and it didn't take long for Robert Kraft to decide he had seen enough. Not long after the game, the team announced they had fired Mayo after just one season and will now dive head first into another head coach search.
Because of that, the easiest Mayo replacement surely seems to be Mike Vrabel, a former Patriots linebacker and ex-Titans head coach. He spent the 2024 season with the Browns and is now the primary candidate to interview for most head coaching vacancies around the league.
It's clear the Patriots will be going full steam ahead for Mike Vrabel now
The latest update regarding the Patriots search suggests they are zeroing in on Vrabel, too, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz.
There has been a league-wide belief that New England would be Mike Vrabel’s first choice — and now that job is open. But the #Patriots will have a search and Vrabel will interview with several teams. https://t.co/jY91CXEAug
— Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) January 5, 2025
It was further reported by The Athletic's Jeff Howe, who revealed that Vrabel has long been interested in the potential of succeeding Mayo if Kraft chose to fire him.
Given that Kraft was rumored to be in on Vrabel when Bill Belichick's future was hanging in the balance last year, it's not shocking that he might already have decided he will be Mayo's replacement upon firing the head coach on Sunday.
There is a lot to consider if that's the right move, especially if they don't do a proper interview process like they passed on with Mayo. His experience is invaluable, and he has accomplished a lot as a head coach, which is not something you can say about Mayo before his promotion. But it would be a mistake not to take the proper steps again and hope to have a different result.