Patriots fire Jerod Mayo: NFL insider names head coach candidate to watch

The New England Patriots shocked the NFL on Sunday, when they decided to fire head coach Jerod Mayo after one season. They went 4-13 in his only season in Foxborough. It didn’t take long for NFL media to think of potential candidates for the job. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network tweeted, “The name Mike Vrabel very quickly comes to the forefront.”

Vrabel is a hot candidate in the 2025 coaching cycle and could be eyeballing the Patriots vacancy, according to reports. Of course, he played with the franchise from 2001 to 2008. It’s a team he’s quite familiar with as he’s in the Patriots Hall of Fame and their 50th anniversary team. He played a critical role in bringing the Patriots three Super Bowls in four years during his time there (2001, 2003, and 2004).

New England isn’t the only team that has recently been interested in the former Titans head coach. Plenty of other teams across the league have been interested in his services the past few years.

The Patriots will have fierce competition for Mike Vrabel

The New York Jets (4-12) were interviewing Mike Vrabel for their head coach opening on Friday at the team’s Florham Park facility, per Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic. Vrabel’s contract with the Cleveland Browns (3-13) expired recently, making him available to interview in-person.

The 49-year-old served as a coaching and personnel consultant for the Browns this season under head coach Kevin Stefanski. He spent the previous six seasons as head coach of the Tennessee Titans (3-13), where he had success.

Vrabel went 54-45 in Tennessee, winning two AFC South titles and making three consecutive playoff appearances from 2019-21. Vrabel went 2-2 in the postseason, leading the Titans to the AFC Championship Game in 2019. The Titans fired Vrabel following a 6-11 campaign in 2023.

Vrabel interviewed for multiple head coaching vacancies this past offseason, most notably with the Los Angeles Chargers (10-6) and Atlanta Falcons (8-8). Other teams had an interest in bringing in Vrabel as their defensive coordinator, which he wasn’t keen on. Rather than joining college roommate Luke Fickell at Wisconsin as a consultant on his coaching staff or taking an off year to jump into the sports media landscape, Vrabel instead found a home in Cleveland.

Being in Cleveland was a positive experience for Vrabel. But now, he wants back on the sidelines. Several teams will go after Vrabel, the Jets being one of them. New York had Super Bowl aspirations this season with Aaron Rodgers back under center and a roster full of young talent. The Jets, however, have been a mess offensively and have regressed defensively following the dismissal of head coach Robert Saleh earlier this season.

“There’s got to be clear communication with ownership, so that we understand as coaches what the expectations are,” Vrabel told Rosenblatt. “That’s so we can explain to them what’s reasonable, what we can do, what we probably can do and what we’re going to try to do — or die trying. I want to have a structure in place that people see the game the same way I do from an X’s and O’s standpoint, from a personnel standpoint, with team-building. We would hopefully have that alignment, which is critical.

“And I would like to be able to say that there’s a quarterback that you feel like you can win with — or that there’s a path to find the one that you can win with.”

The Jets previously interviewed former Carolina Panthers (4-12) and Washington Commanders (11-5) head coach Ron Rivera for their vacancy.

On3’s Nick Geddes also contributed to this article.