With the Patriots announcing the hire of new head coach Mike Vrabel on Sunday, attention almost immediately turned to who the former Patriots linebacker would be hiring to fill out the rest of his coaching staff.
During Vrabel’s introductory press conference at Gillette Stadium on Monday, the 49-year-old was asked directly about his plans at both the offensive and defensive coordinator spots, telling the assembled media “that’s far from solidified.”
So when Vrabel sat down with The Greg Hill Show on Tuesday from Foxborough, WEEI’s Greg Hill followed up on the topic.
“What’s your timeline on hiring coordinators?” asked Hill.
“No timelines,” said Vrabel. “Same thing we talked about yesterday. We’re not gonna deal with timelines with injuries. Or, you know, we’re not gonna deal with the hiring of staff and when that’s going to be complete.
“It’s a long process. It’s one that, you know, will go out a few weeks. It could go out longer than that, right? It’s always delicate when you have teams that are continuing to play in the playoffs, potentially the movement that could occur with coaches on other staffs and related to their contracts. So it’s not as cut and dry as, ‘Hey, these guys are gonna walk in tomorrow, and we’re gonna have a full staff.’”
“Rob Gronkowski said your first call should be to Josh McDaniels,” Hill said, referencing comments the former Patriots tight end said over the weekend on FOX.
“Um, yeah - I’m gonna look at every possible candidate that I feel like can help us,” said Vrabel. “We’re going to start that process today, this afternoon, and visit with some great coaches and then we’ll see where things go.”
“Is he on the list?” Hill followed up.
“Yeah,” Vrabel confirmed. “It’s a long list. There’s a long list, and, you know - I’ve had a relationship with Josh, and I’ve had relationships with other offensive coaches and defensive coaches that we’re going to interview and wanna bring in here.”
McDaniels has a long, successful history with New England, having previously served as former head coach Bill Belichick’s offensive coordinator in two different stints with the franchise.
During stint No. 1 (2006-2008), McDaniels was credited as the architect of the greatest offense in NFL history, as the 2007 Patriots broke every scoring record imaginable on their way to the only 16-0 regular season in league history. That team, of course, didn’t finish the job in Super Bowl XLII, but that didn’t matter for McDaniels’ profile moving forward. The young assistant was now the hottest name for any and all coaching rumors moving forward.
His success with Tom Brady and Randy Moss inevitably landed him the head coaching job in Denver ahead of the 2009 season, making him the youngest head coach in league history at age 32.
Despite starting his first season 6-0, including a Week 5 upset win over his former team, the Broncos ended up losing eight of their next 10 games to close out the season. And after his team started 3-9 in his second season, McDaniels was fired with a month left in the 2010 season.
After a one-year pit stop in St. Louis in 2011 as their offensive coordinator, McDaniels returned to New England for his second stint as OC, this time staying in Foxborough for 10 seasons (2012-21). The Patriots offense returned to form, winning eight straight AFC East titles on their way to three Super Bowl victories.
This led to McDaniels getting another crack at head coach, this time with Las Vegas. But after going 6-11 in his first season with the Raiders in 2022, the questions of McDaniels’ ability to lead an entire operation reemerged.
With his team starting the 2023 season 3-5, the seat got too hot, and McDaniels was canned midseason from a head coaching gig yet again.
McDaniels, now 48, did not work in the league in 2024. With him and Vrabel crossing paths in New England during the first run of the Patriots dynasty (McDaniels was a young assistant starting in 2001 before later becoming OC), it makes sense that the new head coach would at least kick the tires on his old friend.
Stay locked in to WEEI and WEEI.com for all the latest on Vrabel’s coaching staff.