Tag: Mike Vrabel

Browns growing a strong coaching tree under Kevin Stefanski

Three Browns coaches were named as future head coach candidates by Sports Illustrated.

Three Cleveland Browns coaches were named as future head coach candidates by Sports Illustrated. Sports Illustrated publishes an exhaustive list of head coaching candidates every year. The list highlights the best coordinators and position coaches in the NFL. 

Mike Vrabel was the first coach to see his name mentioned. The former head coach of the Titans will draw much interest across the NFL and college. The Ohio native is a popular name within the state as head coaches Kevin Stefanski, Zac Taylor and Ryan Day cycle through sitting on the hot seat. 

I would love to see him back in the scarlet and gray. Vrabel is an intelligent, tough, and honest coach. He can get a program back on track. Vrabel will have his pick of jobs come the winter.

Bubba Ventrone was the next Browns coach mentioned as a potential head coach. Sports Illustrated isolated special teams coordinators, who rarely get a chance to be a head coach, despite having more success than other coordinator roles. Ventrone has had a tough season in Cleveland – the special teams unit ranks near the bottom of the league.

Browns’ tight end coach, Tommy Rees, was the final coach listed. He was labeled as a newcomer to watch. Rees was the offensive coordinator for Notre Dame and Alabama before joining the Browns. It’ll be interesting to see if Rees rejoins the college ranks at the end of the season. 

The Browns aren’t likely to have a coaching search this season. However, a handful of former Browns coaches will be interviewing for head coach jobs this winter. Former Browns head coach, Bill Belichick, and quarterback coach, Drew Petzing are the two biggest names looking for a job. The NFL season is halfway over and organizations out of the playoff race must start building towards the 2026 season.

Browns: David Njoku takes hilarious shot at Stefanski and Vrabel at practice

Njoku takes a hilarious shot at his coaches

The hiring of former Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel is one of the more underrated moves of the Cleveland Browns‘ offseason. Since training camp started, he has been working closely with the tight ends, specifically David Njoku.

While being interviewed on Saturday during the game against the Packers, Njoku said that Vrabel is teaching him how to play smart football. Learning from a defensive mind like Vrabel will surely have benefits for Njoku after a breakout season with the Browns last year.

On Monday, the Browns posted a video to social media of Njoku taking a hilarious shot at his head coach, Kevin Stefanski, and Vrabel. He made a comment about the two of them being a “million dollar picture. Of course, after he walked away, he made the comment that both of them were ugly.

The Browns will host the Vikings on Wednesday and Thursday for joint practices in Berea.

David Njoku and Mike Vrabel developing into dynamic duo with Browns

The Pro Bowl tight end has been learning a lot from the veteran coach

Cleveland Browns star tight end David Njoku didn’t play in the first preseason game against the Packers on Saturday. In fact, most of the Browns starters and key contributors didn’t play, as the team is likely focusing on the joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings next week.

During the game, Njoku was interviewed on the sideline and asked about consultant Mike Vrabel and the work he has been doing with the budding star. The Chief said that Vrabel is a good guy and has been teaching him how to play smart football.

He also said Vrabel shows his old highlights, something he is proud of, and he does it to show them what greatness looks like. It’s been said a bunch of times already, but the experience and knowledge Vrabel brings to the table could turn out to be invaluable to the team.

Cleveland is looking to establish a consistent winning culture, and bringing in someone who has been around so much success is a great way to help build that culture.

Where are the Titans in the latest NFL power rankings?

While the Titans come in low, there is plenty of optimism.

The 2024 Tennessee Titans are one of the NFL’s most mysterious teams. Tennessee underwent more change this offseason than anyone in the NFL outside of the Washington Commanders.

The Titans fired a successful head coach to bring in a first-time head coach. Mike Vrabel’s time in Tennessee seemed to be nearing its end for a while. Not only had the Titans had back-to-back losing seasons, but there were some issues between Vrabel and ownership.

Enter Brian Callahan. Callahan comes to Tennessee with a reputation for developing quarterbacks, which makes him the perfect mentor for Will Levis. The Titans completely revamped the offensive side of the ball this offseason, bringing in players such as Calvin Ridley, Tony Pollard, Tyler Boyd, Lloyd Cushenberry, and JC Latham.

Tennessee also made significant changes to its defense. Rookie defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat, lined up next to Pro Bowl DT Jeffery Simmons, could quickly become the NFL’s best interior duo.

As we begin the first week of the preseason, the Titans and their new coaches and players are surrounded by many unknowns. How good can Tennessee be in 2024?

Eric Edholm of NFL.com released his preseason Week 1 power rankings and had the Titans at No. 28. While that sounds ominous, Edholm mentioned the unknowns surrounding the team and believes most of Tennessee’s changes are positive.

The Titans have undergone major changes on offense and defense, as well as to the coaching staff, and I don’t quite know what to think of all the upheaval yet. I’d say I am mostly positive, but will the makeover result in more wins? A ton obviously depends on Will Levis and his development this season, but you can’t say Tennessee hasn’t at least tried to insulate him well on offense. How it all comes together under a first-year head coach in Brian Callahan is anyone’s guess. There’s probably a wide span of possible results this season, given the sheer number of unknowns here. But I will say that anyone claiming the AFC South is weak might want to step back and measure it against other divisions. There are four teams here that have a shot to finish over .500. It’s not as strong top to bottom as the AFC North, but it might not be terribly far off, either.

That means Edholm believes the Titans are one of the NFL’s worst teams—for now. He sees hope, but many questions must be answered, and those questions begin and end at the quarterback position.

Mike Vrabel acknowledges the Browns cultural turnaround in recent years

Respect for the organization is a big part of Vrabel coming to Cleveland

It was a big surprise that after being fired from the Titans, no one offered former NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel a head coaching job. Vrabel has been around a lot of football and knows what it takes to win it all from his playing days with the Patriots. Oh well, all to gain for the Cleveland Browns in the meantime.

It’s not often that a guy of this degree takes a consulting role for your team, but Cleveland was able to make that happen. On Tuesday, Vrabel talked about how his respect for the organization played a big part in his taking the job with the Browns.

“Well, I think that one, I have a lot of respect for this organization. What Jimmy and Dee (Haslam) have done, a ton of respect for Andrew and Kevin and what they’ve been able to do in a short amount of time. And, you know, I trust them. I trust them that they would do right by me and that they would help me and that the position and the fit would be beneficial to everybody.”

It wasn’t long ago that no one would say something like this about the Browns, but it shows how different things are in Cleveland now. This role is likely only for one season, but his advice could greatly help the team.

Browns TE David Njoku gets hands on coaching from Mike Vrabel

The Pro Bowl tight end gets some on-the-field coaching from the other NFL Coach of the Year on staff.

The Cleveland Browns have only been in training camp for one week, but there have already been two Mike Vrabel viral clips. First, it was his daily races with backup quarterback Jameis Winston, and now, it is a clip of him hand-fighting with Pro Bowl tight end David Njoku.

Over the past three years, Njoku has developed into one of the most well-rounded tight ends in the NFL. This culminated in his first Pro Bowl appearance a year ago. For a player who struggled to block when he first came into the league, it has now become a calling card for Njoku.

However, there is always room to get better.

In the clip below, you can see Njoku working on his strike, leverage, and hand placement with the former Super Bowl-winning linebacker. Getting one-on-one attention from a coach and former player like Vrabel is such a valuable experience for a blossoming player like Njoku.

Vrabel’s tenure with the Browns will likely be short-lived as he gets his buyout from the Titans and will likely get courted for jobs next year. However, what an invaluable asset he will be to Stefanski and his team during a crucial 2024 season.

With one week of training camp down, the Browns will continue to look to get after it. Vrabel included.

Browns QB Jameis Winston and Mike Vrabel start hilarious tradition

The Browns’ consultant and backup QB have a hilarious daily competition

The Cleveland Browns added two new key members to their franchise in backup quarterback Jameis Winston (after starting five quarterbacks just one year ago, yes the backup is a key addition) and former Tennessee Titans’ head coach Mike Vrabel.

Vrabel joined the team as a consultant under head coach Kevin Stefanski as the two have developed a relationship over the years after he was dismissed from his post in Tennessee. Stefanski, the two-time NFL Coach of the Year, now has another former NFL Coach of the Year to use as a sounding board entering a crucial 2024 season.

These two new members of the Browns have started a new and hilarious tradition: Winston and Vrabel race each other every practice.

The video shows that the former Ohio State Buckeye and Super Bowl-winning linebacker still has a bit of his juice left.

Mike Vrabel opens up about infamous loophole play against Patriots

Mike Vrabel commented on the one time he out-Belichick’d Bill Belichick

Former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel talked about an infamous loophole he used when his team faced the New England Patriots back in the 2019 AFC Divisional Round.

The Titans defeated the Patriots by a 20-13 margin and sent New England home packing in Tom Brady’s last game as a member of the organization.

Vrabel took advantage of a loophole in the NFL rulebook that allowed his team to run one minute and 49 seconds off the clock. The best part of this loophole was that they did not run a single play. This occurred with six minutes and 33 seconds left in the game, and the Titans managed to get the clock down to 4:44.

This infuriated former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, despite the tactic being perfectly legal. Vrabel opened up about the sequence during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take.”

“Outside of five minutes, any defensive penalty they would just wind the clock,” said Vrabel. “They would just take the yardage off and then put 25 seconds back and start the clock. So, you could take it down, you could false start or you could delay a game, then you could false start, then you could delay a game again. Eventually because, if you’re punting from the 36-yard line or 35-yard line, you don’t want to attempt a long kick in the weather.

“…The yardage really didn’t matter. It was about taking the time off and trying to give Tom Brady less opportunities, or if we get a stop, then they would have less time. We ended up stopping them, and they had eight seconds.”

This was a classic case of Vrabel beating Belichick at his own game. Belichick always found ways to exploit loopholes, and this time, it was Vrabel who managed to get the last laugh.

Tennessee managed to advance to the AFC Championship Game that year, where they were defeated by the Kansas City Chiefs.

New Browns coach Mike Vrabel receives some love from The Pat McAfee Show

New Cleveland Browns coach Mike Vrabel receives some love from the Pat McAfee show after a clip showed him running the scout team defense.

Pat McAfee and A.J. Hawk enjoyed watching Mike Vrabel at the Cleveland Browns’ OTA session. The two riffed on the Pat McAfee Show about Vrabel’s command of the scout team’s defense, and his ability to talk trash while doing it. Vrabel is a good friend of the show and they’re happy to see him coaching again.

Vrabel played 13 seasons in the NFL before he started his coaching career. Vrabel has stayed in shape and looks like he can set the edge on the line of scrimmage.

Vrabel sounds happy to be coaching for his hometown team. Hawk, another Ohio native, joked that the Browns should send Vrabel out on gameday wearing a Walsh Jesuit high school jersey to rouse up the crowd. The stadium would lose their mind if they saw Vrabel smash the guitar before kickoff.
Unfortunately, he won’t have the time as Kevin Stefanski and Jim Schwartz are keeping Vrabel busy as a coach where he belongs. The organization did a good job welcoming him to the team after the Tennesee Titans fired him.

Titans’ Arden Key makes surprising admission about last coaching staff

Part of coaching is correcting mistakes, but it appears the previous Titans coaching staff wasn’t doing enough of that.

If there’s one thing Tennessee Titans outside linebacker Arden Key is good for aside from getting sacks, it’s giving honest answers. The latest example of that came after the Titans’ latest practice of organized team activities on Wednesday.

Key shared his thoughts on new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson, who he is most definitely a fan of. During his response, Key revealed that Wilson doesn’t move on from something until the mistakes are corrected.

“The intensity (Dennard Wilson) got, the detail and we don’t move on until everything is fixed,” Key said, per Paul Kuharsky. “And the detail he got, the swag he got that he comes in with everyday, man, it’s going to be exciting.”

Kuharsky then asked if the previous coaching staff would move on before details were fixed, and Key was very clear in his answer.

“Hell yeah,” Key responded. “Yes, we moved on. If we messed up, we didn’t fix it. And now, this year, when we mess up, we don’t move on until we fix it.”

Key has only been with the Titans for one full season, so it isn’t clear if this was the approach in the years before he got there. However, it is a bad look for former head coach Mike Vrabel and former defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, who is now with the New York Giants.

This goes a long way to explaining why we saw so many of the same mistakes over and over again last season.

Not taking the time to fix mistakes is not a good approach, especially when it comes to developing younger players. It’s a good thing the Titans chose not to rebuild their roster with a staff like that.

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