Patriots reunite with head coach Mike Vrabel, share vision of New England revival

Mike Vrabel made a triumphant return to New England as head coach of the Patriots on Monday.

A former linebacker and Super Bowl champion under Bill Belichick, Vrabel said he felt the move back to Foxborough, Mass., was right "in his soul." Vrabel previously coached the Tennessee Titans and spent last season as a consultant for the Cleveland Browns.

"I'm humbled, I'm grateful," Vrabel said Monday, recalling being inducted into the team's Hall of Fame in 2023. "Excited to get to work. Excited to meet the people in this building who have made this place special."

The Patriots last reached the playoffs at the end of the 2021 National Football League season, losing 47-17 to the Buffalo Bills in the wild-card round. Since that loss, New England is 16-35 and moving to a third head coach in three seasons.

Vrabel credited previous coaches and mentors from Belichick to Bill O'Brien, who made him a linebackers coach with the Houston Texans, for getting him back "to the place where I wanted to be."

"When I started my coaching career, I think it was important to go somewhere else to start another coaching journey," Vrabel said Monday. "I felt like it was important to forge my own path somewhere else and if all those experiences led me back here and the right opportunity, then that was the place to be."

Vrabel, 49, takes over for former teammate Jerod Mayo, who was fired after one season as Belichick's replacement as hand-selected by team owner Robert Kraft. The Patriots' owner said Mayo was placed in an untenable situation and took fault for New England finishing 4-13 for the second consecutive season.

Vrabel spent four seasons in the NFL with the Steelers before signing with the Patriots in 2001 and winning three Super Bowls in