Mike Vrabel's Availability Opens Up a World of Options in New England

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I don't think that anyone who occasionally clicks on Patriots blogs here, is marginally familiar with my work, or who has ever heard of me is right now asking themselves, "I wonder if Old Balls Thornton wants to see Bill Belichick back as HC of the NEPs?" I believe I've made my stance on the great issue of our times abundantly clear. And I stand on my record of unequivocal support for the best coach to ever cut the legs off his sweatpants. 

That said, I'm not totally inflexible. I can see the need for change. Whatever decision making processes led us to choosing Juju Smith-Schuster over Jakobi Meyers, Chad Ryland over Nick Folk, N'Keal Harry and Tyquan Thornton over anybody, and to shop in the remainder bin on offensive tackles needs to be fine-tuned at the very least. But preferably overhauled. 

And based on his very reasonable answers at his Monday year-end press briefing, I believe Belichick is amenable to new methods. Even if it means giving up final say on all personnel moves:

With all due respect to RDT wanting to see Mike Vrabel at Ohio State, after six NFL seasons, a 54-45 .545 record, three trips to the playoffs and an AFC championship game on his resume, this is not the time for a demotion. To spending endless hours on the phone recruiting, sitting down with some high school prospect, trying to convince him and his mom that you're offering them something better than they'll get in the SEC, getting him to agree, only to get transfer portaled into another dimension like he's Doctor fucking Strange. That's no way for a hot NFL coaching commodity to take the next step in his career. A step back.

If Vrabel is going to wax nostalgic, going back to school is not the path to take. Going back to the place where he became great is. He was laboring in obscurity as a part-time specialist in Dick Lebeau's defense when the call came less than a minute into free agency of 2001. Belichick was on the line, citing chapter and verse of different plays he'd made in Pittsburgh. Subtle things everyone else overlooked but the man who saw future greatness in those few subpackage reps. And a legend was born. 

Kraft the Elder and Kraft the Younger have made no effort to hide how much they admire and respect Vrabel. (Not enough to have vetoed his trade to Kansas City in 2009, but that water has long since passed under the bridge. Mr. Kraft's speech at Vrabel's induction into the Hall at Patriots Place this summer (the 2:10 mark) demonstrated it:

And now that the Titans have made Vrabel available, it's impossible not to connect some dots here. Dots you can arrange in any number of different ways. All of which create a picture of a new and improved - pardon the expression - Patriots Way of doing things. 

How can Vrabel come here and Belichick still be the head coach? The possibilities are endless. Beginning with naming him as an assistant head coach/head coach in waiting. The same position we all assume Jerod Mayo was given last year. Mayo will, without a doubt, be fielding job offers soon, he was then. He was generously paid in Kraftbucks to stay on and be next in line of succession to the throne. But that insurance policy is no longer necessary if they bring in a man who's coached over 100 NFL games that the Krafts respect just as much. 

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Vrabel can easily slide into the defensive coordinator's role as a 72 year old Belichick enters the final phase of his unparalleled career. As for Steve Belichick, it's impossible to imagine him having an issue with handing over the headset and sliding over to say, coaching linebackers. He's still got his job. And still working alongside his father and brother in the family business. An arrangement that beats the bejeebers out of, say, packing up and starting a new life in North Carolina or wherever. 

Eventually, in a couple of years, breaks Don Shula's record. Then HC Bill moves upstairs to become Just Bill. Not into a figurehead role the way Red Auerbach eventually did or King Charles has now. But a sort of undefined, all-purpose consultant the way Ernie Adams was. A voice in Vrabel's ear. Someone with a genius for spotting things on film that others miss. Someone who can work with individuals, position groups and the whole team. But then have plenty of time to fish with Jimmy Johnson in his golden years. 

Hell, they could work out that arrangement now. Though it's hard to imagine someone with Belichick's obsession for putting in long hours and working circles around everyone else is ready for that life of relative leisure just yet. Like getting off a treadmill when you've been running 6.8 mph, you need to give yourself that 3.4 cool down period so you don't end up flying into the gym wall. 

As for the team as a whole, Vrabel brings that relatable, player-friendly, "I've been where you are" vibe that has largely been lacking in Foxboro as we've been cycling through off-putting know-it-all coordinators. Guys like Josh McDaniels, Matt Patricia and Joe Judge, all of whom got exposed as inauthetic when they went elsewhere  and were no longer under Belichick's protection. Vrabel has succeeded in this league. Knows the culture the Patriots have created. But also how it needs to be updated. Which is the very thing Trent Brown said that I posted about earlier. 

Right now, as we wait for white smoke to come out of the Gillette lighthouse signaling that a decision has been made on our Pope, it seems too perfect that Vrabel has suddenly been made available. Let's get the band back together, however the organizational chart is drawn up. It's been two days now and getting this offseason started is long overdue.