It’s been a chaotic last few days for the New England Patriots, who went from a team coached by Jerod Mayo in line for the number one pick Sunday morning to a team picking fourth and looking for a new head coach in just a few hours.
Now, the attention has immediately turned from whether Jerod Mayo will be fired to who his replacement will be. After not even interviewing any other candidates last year before hiring Mayo, Robert Kraft and the Patriots will surely be casting a wide net this time, right?
While they have already begun interviewing candidates, and reportedly have an interview scheduled with Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, former Patriots linebacker and Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel looks like a clear-cut favorite for the job.
Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston said in his weekly appearance on WEEI’s Jones and Keefe that Vrabel is “the preferred candidate and favorite” for the head coach vacancy.
On the other hand, Curran stressed that fans shouldn’t expect Vrabel to be hired immediately without proper due diligence from both sides.
“There's just so many different things that can happen, I would think, with this process. So until it's done, it's not done, as anybody can tell,” Curran said.
Curran also cited a report from The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt from Jan. 3 outlining Vrabel’s criteria for a new team.
“Vrabel articulated in an article with The Athletic last week that he wants to be comfortable and have an open line of communication with ownership,” Curran said.
“He also believes that you either have to have a very good quarterback or a pathway to finding one. And then finally, he needed to have people who shared his vision with X's and O's, approach, and team culture.”
Regarding where the Patriots stand with that criteria, Curran said, “Two out of three ain’t bad.”
“When I look at that component of the team culture and the people in place that Robert Kraft stated would remain in place, Alonzo Highsmith and Eliot Wolf in the personnel department, it's hard to see how the visions will mesh smoothly with a new guy,” Curran said.
“In 2024, I find it a little bit dysfunctional towards the end of the year with the amount of finger-pointing that's gone on,” he continued.
Ultimately, Curran believes that Kraft will bend to the requests of a new head coach if they want to bring in their own personnel department. In that scenario, Kraft could demote or fire Wolf.
“If an individual comes in, a candidate comes in and says, ‘Hey, this is my personnel vision, I want this individual to be heading up the personnel, this is what I want,’ then they would perhaps hire that person and put Wolf in a more subsidiary role,” Curran said.
Given Vrabel’s history in Tennessee, where he reportedly feuded with his GM and personnel department over roster decisions, Curran can’t imagine him ceding control to Wolf.
“I can't imagine anyone wants a shotgun marriage or an arranged marriage,” Curran said.
“I don't think that Vrabel would have the interest in doing that necessarily unless he had every assurance that, ‘You're the boss.’”