{"id":209622,"date":"2025-01-12T10:35:33","date_gmt":"2025-01-12T15:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=209622"},"modified":"2025-01-12T10:35:33","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T15:35:33","slug":"patriots-announce-next-head-coach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/01\/12\/patriots-announce-next-head-coach\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots Announce Next Head Coach"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After going one-and-done with Jerod Mayo, the New England Patriots have selected their next head coach: Mike Vrabel. After spending the 2024 season out of football, the one-time <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/titans\/\" target=\"_self\">Tennessee Titans<\/a> head coach was one of the most sought-after leaders in the hiring cycle.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: The <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Patriots?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Patriots<\/a> are hiring Mike Vrabel as their HC, per <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamSchefter?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@AdamSchefter<\/a>. The deal is done. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SwrjJYaoKa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/SwrjJYaoKa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MySportsUpdate\/status\/1878461835021525112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 12, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>New England Patriots Hire Mike Vrabel As Next Head Coach<\/h2>\n<p>Mike Vrabel has plenty of history with the New England Patriots, and now the former linebacker can lead the franchise on the sidelines. Originally entering the NFL as a player with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/steelers\" target=\"_self\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>, Vrabel signed with the New England Patriots in 2001 and never looked back. Playing a crucial role in the first half of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick&#8217;s two-decade dynasty, Vrabel played eight seasons in New England, recording 48 sacks, 606 tackles, 55 tackles-for-loss, and winning three Super Bowls.<\/p>\n<p>After a brief stint with the Kansas City Chiefs, Vrabel retired from football and joined the coaching world in 2011. Starting off as a linebackers coach at Ohio State, Vrabel joined the NFL ranks with the Houston Texans in 2014. After four seasons there, the defensive-minded coach earned a head coaching opportunity with the Tennessee Titans. Running the show for six seasons, Vrabel went 54-45 in the regular season and 2-3 in the postseason, including an appearance in the <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/game\/_\/gameId\/401131044\/titans-chiefs\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">AFC Championship Game in 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While the Patriots interviewed other candidates for the head coach position, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/01\/08\/bears-hope-for-ben-johnson-hinges-on-one-teams-action\/\" target=\"_self\">Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson<\/a> seemed to be the only other serious candidate. Johnson has been with the Lions since 2019 but rose to prominence as Dan Campbell&#8217;s offensive coordinator. Taking over the role midway through the 2022 season, Johnson&#8217;s elite scheme and creative play calls have turned the Lions from perennial underachievers to one of the most dangerous teams in football. While he didn&#8217;t land the Patriots job, he should have no shortage of suitors across the league.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Photo: Joe Camporeale &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>According to reports across the league, the New England Patriots have made a decision on their next head coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":209625,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,36],"tags":[9585,3481,7394,246],"class_list":["post-209622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots","category-nfl-news","tag-ben-johnson","tag-mike-vrabel","tag-new-england-patriots-news","tag-nfl-news"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209622"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":210027,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209622\/revisions\/210027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}