That’s weird right? I thought the same thing.
It felt like when they dumped Bill and Vrabel got dumped at the same time, the stars really aligned to bring in Vrabel, but Jerod might’ve held Kraft’s feet to the fire… “Come on dad, I mean Thunder, you PROMISED me you’d give me the job!!! You SAID!!!!” That plus Jerod’s $10M buyout he would be owed if he WASN’T promoted, plus whatever Vrabel would have to be paid, plus paying Bill $25M+ for the final year of his deal, combined to make Kraft say “alright fine, I did promise, you can go do it”.
Guessing Mayo’s per year rate is.. $5M a year? Or so? So that means Kraft was on the hook for around $30M total to HCs in 2024 instead of the $25M+$10M+$15M or so ($50M total) he would’ve had to pay if he didn’t choose Mayo and picked Vrabel instead. Hefty. Plus a whole staff…
So he gives Mayo a shot, it doesn’t work out. Now in 2025 he can go back to Vrabel for that ~$15M, plus the ~$5M he owes Mayo for 2025 - Bill’s deal is off the books, so Kraft’s total head coaching salary owed drops to $20M. Which is good since he will need to pay some guaranteed cash to players in 2025 too.
Now that I think about it… could Kraft have asked Vrabel to not rush out and take a new job in 2024? Stay a free agent until 2025 just in case Mayo doesn’t work out? So Vrabel goes and gets a little “consultant” job with the Browns that is only written up for a few months. I don’t think he even interviewed anywhere last year. Hmm…