Now that the Patriots have their next head coach with the hiring of Mike Vrabel, all questions turn to who he will fill his staff with. Some names have already circulated, mostly former longtime offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, who appears to be the frontrunner for the job. Another name to watch is Wes Welker, who could potentially come in as their wide receivers coach since being fired by the Dolphins last week.
Who might be the defensive coordinator is more of the question at this point, and the most obvious of candidates is believed to be anyone with ties to Vrabel from his days with the Titans.
Because of that, one name has come into the fold despite still being under contract with the Giants: Shane Bowen. He is New York's DC and just started that gig in 2024, so it's unlikely he will be available for Vrabel to consider hiring.
However, the latest intel from NFL insiders suggests the Giants might move on from him after just one season since the defense did not perform well under Bowen's coaching. Because of that, Vrabel's potential interest becomes much more questionable and maybe even concerning.
Mike Vrabel might be better served to look at other candidates for the Patriots next defensive coordinator
While discussing the Patriots' decision to hire Vrabel on Sunday morning, NFL insiders Mike Garafolo, Tom Pelissero and Ian Rapoport mentioned a few names to look out for who could join the new head coach's staff.
That's when they threw in Bowen's name, given that he was Vrabel's DC in Tennessee, but it's a bit worrisome to consider how much improvement the Patriots' defense needs and how poorly the Giants' defense played during the 2024 season under Bowen.
“The question now is who would the coordinators be?
… Shane Bowen, currently the defensive coordinator with the Giants. I had mentioned the other day, I didn’t expect the Giants to make a change at defensive coordinator but Bowen was with Vrabel in Tennessee so if they wanna pry him away perhaps the Gianta will allow Bowen to walk and head up to Foxboro. We’ll see about all that. Those dominoes are going to fall into place.”
Although it has been said that Bowen's system didn't work in New York, and that might explain why they ranked ninth in allowing the most yards per game (346.8) and 12th in points surrendered (24.4), it doesn't provide much optimism about what he could bring to the Patriots who need a lot of improvement.
The Titans ranked 6th in total defense in 2021, 15th in 2022, and 16th in 2023, so moving in the wrong direction as soon as Bowen took over as the defensive coordinator.
The addition of Vrabel will inevitably be a tremendous help, but it's not going to be enough after what we saw from the defense during the 2024 season. There might be better candidates for the role, maybe even Robert Saleh, who could help the defense more than Bowen.
It will be one of the more intriguing hires to watch this offseason since there are many more questions surrounding who Vrabel might be looking at than the expected decisions regarding the offense. The defense fell apart in Belichick's absence last year, so the group needs to be almost as prioritized, and we'll have to wait and see if that's something Vrabel chooses to do.