Hiring Mike Vrabel was the easiest part for the Patriots. Now the hard work begins with three difficult questions

A week ago, after the New England Patriots fired head coach Jerod Mayo and quickly began searching for Mike Vrabel, two league sources close to Vrabel – each of whom had spent time with him at a previous franchise – came forward. spoke about the punch list he had created during the interview process.

A close bond with an NFL team owner he can completely trust.

A general manager who mentally and physically understands the player he covets.

The ability of both to withstand the pain and strain of making sense of a team’s culture and locker room.

Despite being on virtually every head coach search list, they were variables that gave even the most sensible targets pause for thought. There was no track record of ownership of the Chicago Bears, and the franchise’s leadership was complicated by the forced marriage of team president Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles. The Dallas Cowboys, who Vrabel would have interviewed with if the position had been open, were in a holding pattern with Mike McCarthy. The ownership of the New York Jets has been inconsistent at best. And even the Las Vegas Raiders — for whom minority owner and former Vrabel teammate Tom Brady is running — have a line of former coaches and executives snaking around a city block to offer negative feedback about owner Mark Davis.

For those who knew Vrabel, the head coaching opportunities weren’t all that great.

“There is no way Mike is coaching the damn Raiders or Jets,” a source familiar with Vrabel said early last week. “He doesn’t address the Bears situation after what happened with the (Tennesee) Titans (front office). He’s going to the Patriots. Nothing else will be around.”

Less than a week later, it happened: Vrabel signed a multi-year deal to take over the Patriots shortly after they ousted Mayo following the team’s final game of the season. It’s a marriage that virtually everyone in the league expected, lending credence to the notion that team owner Robert Kraft moved on from Mayo after a poor season, in part because he believed this would be his last best shot at Vrabel. An opportunity that – if you believe the people around Vrabel – might not have been available if Jim Harbaugh hadn’t accepted the job with the Los Angeles Chargers a year ago. In hindsight, they believe this would have been Vrabel’s next head coaching job had it not gone to Harbaugh. And it is believed that his personally chosen general manager would have been there too. It was a choice most believe would have been made by former Titans and current New York Giants personnel manager Ryan Cowden.

That latter point is important because it brings us to the here and now — and how some of those moving parts are likely to come together in New England. From a front office that’s expected to undergo adjustments to a vital offensive coordinator pick to a roster that’s on the verge of an exodus in the offseason, a significant amount of work is already underway. On the pressing questions…

What will happen to Vice President of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf?

As of Sunday – and it is important to emphasize that Vrabel is signing his contract immediately – I was informed that Wolf will remain in the front office with his title and will also retain control of the personnel. However, there is an expectation that the Patriots will act on Vrabel’s request and bring Cowden into a front office position. That means effectively moving Cowden away from the Giants, where he currently serves as general manager Joe Schoen’s personnel advisor.

After Jon Robinson was fired as the Titans’ general manager in 2022, Vrabel preferred that Cowden (who became interim GM at the time) ultimately take over the role permanently. Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk instead opted to sign Ran Carthon from the San Francisco 49ers, causing a rift between Vrabel and the front office that would ultimately lead to his firing after the 2023 season.

Cowden has interviewed for other general manager positions in the past and has a wealth of personnel experience on his resume, including 15 years climbing the scouting ladder with the Carolina Panthers before becoming director of player personnel with the Titans in 2016. He was viewed as a key factor in adding a variety of players to the Panthers and Titans, who relied on strong offensive and defensive lines and found the culture and schemes Vrabel favored on defense.

How could he end up connecting with Wolf, considering he would be inserted into the Patriots’ front office structure with a new coaching regime? How these roles will ultimately work remains to be seen.

A source on Sunday compared the mix of Vrabel, Wolf and Cowden to what initially developed with the Denver Broncos after Sean Payton was hired in 2023. There was some consideration during the interview process that Payton could ultimately name his GM, depending on his landing spot. But when he was hired by the Broncos, general manager George Paton remained a holdover with the team and worked closely with Payton leading up to the 2023 season to find the type of culture and program he wanted. It didn’t work without an addition. In January, shortly after the first season Payton and Paton worked together, the Broncos created a vice president of player personnel position at Payton’s behest and then hired New Orleans Saints assistant director of college scouting Cody Rager to fill that position to occupy. The result was that Payton was given further direct influence in shaping the Broncos’ front office while Paton remained GM. At least for the 2025 season, the balance between Wolf and Cowden could be similar in New England. While Wolf stays and retains personnel power, Vrabel and Cowden play an influential role in shaping these decisions.

Right now, many within the Patriots are waiting to see exactly how those roles will be defined.

Is there an inside track for the offensive coordinator?

Former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels is considered the favorite for the spot. He is an assistant that Vrabel knows well, who he trusts implicitly to know how to balance a plan with a running game, and who also has the ability to challenge a quarterback to test his toughness and mastery of the plan to provide evidence. Another important note: McDaniels has the chin to take Vrabel’s criticism and his fierce mentality as a head coach. That shouldn’t be discounted in this equation, especially with an extremely young roster of attacking players who are bound to make mistakes and incur Vrabel’s wrath. While McDaniels failed twice as a head coach, he was a very successful offensive coordinator and collaborator with quarterbacks. And not just under Tom Brady.

With New England, McDaniels had some limited success with Cam Newton in 2020 before injuries derailed their progress, then managed to guide Mac Jones to his best NFL season as a rookie in 2021 before leaving for the head coaching position to take over the Raiders. It is clear that the “schema fit and trust” factor is present.

If McDaniels takes that job, what happens to the rest of the offensive staff? It would mean parting ways with current coordinator Alex Van Pelt and likely quarterbacks coach TC McCartney, both of whom have played big roles in rookie Drake Maye’s sustained progress in 2024. If McDaniels comes in, it will certainly be a change, even with a new playbook and scheme. So it’s not without at least some complications.

What changes will be made to the squad?

On the one hand, a largely disappointing 2024 draft class (outside of Maye’s selection) will be given a clean slate by Vrabel and his new team. Among the many things Vrabel was known for at Tennessee was that he often found a way to get the best out of players, especially on defense.

The guys who don’t get along with the program when it comes to being a pro – knowing the plan and the playbook, practicing hard, being on time, showing up in the offseason – aren’t going to make it. And they won’t get many chances either. Therefore, the elements of the 2024 rookie class that lagged in these areas will likely have a one-strike standard given their low production levels and some of the red flags that emerged with some players.

As for the rest of the roster, it’s never been a secret what Vrabel is getting into. In his prime with the Titans, he had strong offensive and defensive lines, physical players with a tough running game and leaders who could take his criticism. Rarely, except perhaps Derrick Henry (who almost never deserved it), were his stars spared from harsh coaching. His film sessions in Tennessee could often be tough, and Vrabel favored players who could take them in stride and then show improvement on the field. Anyone who is afraid of something like this will not avoid his doghouse. This is one of the reasons why his rhythm is so important in the front office.

Obviously, the Patriots already have some defensive pieces that fit together and can meet Vrabel’s standards. The overall state of the squad, on the other hand, appears to be in for a major shake-up over the next few offseasons, particularly in the offense around Maye, where several seasons of new additions may be needed to produce the kind of physical play that Vrabel tends to play.

Overall there is a lot to do. The Patriots’ owners had to know that this was the path they were asking for when they chose Vrabel. He is not a closed book when it comes to his mentality. Anyone who has forgotten this from their playing days with the Patriots will quickly remember it. And everything will start on Monday.