It turns out the formal introduction of new Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel wasn’t the only bit of news coming out of 1 Patriot Place on Monday, as Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported that Giants senior advisor Ryan Cowden has “accepted a job” with the team.
Breer went on to write in his post for X.com that Cowden’s title will be along the lines of “VP of player personnel,” and that he’ll serve as the “de facto No. 2 to Eliot Wolf.”
As the rumors began to swirl around Vrabel’s eventual hiring in New England, multiple media members began to speculate what type of staff the 49-year-old would surround himself with. It was speculated by multiple outlets that Vrabel would look to bring aboard Cowden, who served as Vrabel’s vice president of player personnel in Tennessee from 2018 to 2022.
With Robert Kraft telling the media last Monday that members of fired-head coach Jerod Mayo’s staff would remain under contract until his new head coach decided on who would remain, he also made a point to mention Wolf as someone he wanted “working together” with the new regime, saying his executive vice president of player personnel would be “staying on.”
With Breer’s report on Monday, it appears that Kraft and Vrabel both have a “guy” of their own on the personnel side, with Wolf staying on as the head of the operation.
It’s notable that Vrabel mentioned Wolf by name during his press conference six different times, saying he was excited to “sit down” with him and his staff.
“I've met more with Eliot over the weekend,” Vrabel said on Monday. “I've had conversations with him, but I need to sit down with his staff and figure out where we're at, what we need to do. I'm confident that those types of decisions are all going to sort themselves out.
“We don't always want to be on the same page. That's not the environment we want to create. But we want to have a shared vision, and there's also different ways to get there. I'm embracing that everyone's going to have a different personality. I don't want my staff to be like me. I don't want all our players to be similar. We're going to have diverse ideas, and that's critical, and to be able to have those types of conversations is something I'm looking forward to.”
With Cowden’s reported hire on Monday, Vrabel is immediately putting his money where his mouth is on embracing a difference in opinion.
Cowden joins the Patriots organization after spending two years in New York under general manager Joe Schoen.
Here’s a full look at Cowden’s NFL resume:
2000: Carolina Panthers Scouting Assistant
2001-07: Carolina Panthers Area Scout
2008-12: Carolina Panthers National Scout
2012-14: Carolina Panthers National Scout/Senior College Scout
2014-15: Carolina Panthers Assistant Director of College Scouting
2016-17: Tennessee Titans Director of Player Personnel
2018-22: Tennessee Titans Vice President of Player Personnel
2022: Tennessee Titans Interim General Manager
2023-24: New York Giants Executive Advisor to the General Manager
As of the posting of this story, there’s no word on what Vrabel will do with the rest of his staff - which coaches will be retained, or which ones will be brought in from the outside.
Stay locked in to WEEI and WEEI.com for all the latest as this story develops.