After the Tennessee Titans surprisingly parted ways with Mike Vrabel after the season, many people in the NFL world were surprised he didn’t land any of the head coaching vacancies available around the league.
Once the head coaching openings were all filled for the 2024 NFL season, a lot of people were curious about what Vrabel’s next move would be. Now, we finally know — the former Titans head coach has taken a role on the Cleveland Browns‘ coaching staff.
Mike Vrabel Joining Cleveland Browns’ Staff as a Consultant
According to multiple reports, Vrabel is being hired by the Browns as a consultant.
The MMQB’s Albert Breer stated on X (formerly Twitter) “Ex-Titans coach Mike Vrabel was with the Browns at the combine—so this has been in the works for a while. The connection, in this case, is that Vrabel brought Cleveland DC Jim Schwartz aboard in Tennessee a few years back. So the Akron native and Walsh Jesuit alum heads home.”
In addition, The Athletic’s Robert Mays said, “The plan here, as it was communicated to me, is for Vrabel to act as a sounding board for Kevin Stefanski but also as a resource for a coaching staff with a lot of youth and turnover. It’s an interesting idea.”
It’s an unexpected move for both the team and Vrabel and is a bit of an outside-the-box way of thinking. It seems as if Vrabel won’t have an official position to coach, or even a defined role on game day, but will act as a resource in any way that he can to help.
Vrabel gets back into the NFL when it looked like he may have had to wait until 2024 to do so. Now, Vrabel gets to bring his playing and coaching experience to a staff that can use it, and he gets to be around a top NFL defense that is anchored by Myles Garrett.
As a player, Vrabel is a three-time Super Bowl champion and a one-time All-Pro and Pro Bowler. As a coach Vrabel is accomplished as well, as he was the 2021 Associated Press Coach of The Year.
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The NFL is a business that is predicated on adding talent anywhere you can get it, on and off the field, and while this may be an outside-of-the-box hiring that does not have a definitive structure known at this time, adding Vrabel to the mix for a playoff team with a lot of talent and big aspirations in 2024 can’t be a bad thing.
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