It was widely believed even earlier than the Las Vegas Raiders parted methods with head coach Antonio Pierce following the 2024 NFL common season that Raiders minority proprietor Tom Brady may goal former New England Patriots teammate Mike Vrabel for the job. Nevertheless, Vrabel officially returned to the Patriots to turn into their subsequent head coach on Sunday.
Additionally on Sunday, NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero revealed that the Raiders by no means got here all that near successful Vrabel’s providers.
“Essentially the most rumored touchdown spot for Mike Vrabel for months was with the Las Vegas Raiders contemplating they’ve his outdated buddy and teammate, Tom Brady, there because the minority proprietor and working their teaching search,” Pelissero stated throughout Sunday’s version of NFL Community’s “The Insiders” program, as shared by Lauren Campbell of MassLive. “My understanding is the Raiders by no means requested an interview or tried to deliver Mike Vrabel in as a result of Vrabel primarily instructed Tom Brady, ‘I’m gonna find yourself going again to New England.’ Different groups had been conscious that was the seemingly touchdown spot for Mike Vrabel for fairly a while.”
Vrabel and Brady earned three Tremendous Bowl rings as teammates with the Patriots from 2001-08, and the previous was inducted into the franchise’s Corridor of Fame within the fall of 2023. Extra just lately, Vrabel went 54-45 and received Related Press Coach of the Yr as head coach of the Tennessee Titans from 2018–23. He then served as a advisor with the Cleveland Browns from March 2024 up till he was permitted to hunt out head-coaching alternatives in late December.
As for Brady, he reportedly has an energetic function in Las Vegas’ seek for Pierce’s substitute and should or could not have tried to persuade former Patriots head coach Invoice Belichick to go away the North Carolina Tar Heels and return to the NFL. There isn’t any signal Belichick will ditch North Carolina with out having ever coached a recreation for that program, and the Raiders had been just lately linked with Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Johnson is seen as one of many prime candidates of the continuing hiring cycle and seemingly may have a say in who Las Vegas hires to exchange common supervisor Tom Telesco. The Raiders fired Telesco final week.
