Vrabel Press Conference

[Steve102]

I think it's mostly about Bob's PR and saving face but his reasoning is legitimate.

When Bill was fired, he made a big deal about power, checks and balances, and collaboration. He didn't want the franchise to depend on one person. He wanted a distributed management structure.

I truly believe Bob shared with Vrabel his concerns re: Bill's org/control and didn't want to be beholden to one man running the whole operation anymore. Bob thought Wolf was competent enough and someone he wanted to be the personnel side of the house. I believe Vrabel understood that but clearly his conditions were he wanted final say on people/type of player and the best way to move fast on player acquisition was bringing in Cowden. Bob saw it as a compromise and workable.

Whether Wolf sticks around is a different story.

We will not tolerate this level of even handed posts.

 

[Ross12]

I think it's mostly about Bob's PR and saving face but his reasoning is legitimate.

When Bill was fired, he made a big deal about power, checks and balances, and collaboration. He didn't want the franchise to depend on one person. He wanted a distributed management structure.

I truly believe Bob shared with Vrabel his concerns re: Bill's org/control and didn't want to be beholden to one man running the whole operation anymore. Bob thought Wolf was competent enough and someone he wanted to be the personnel side of the house. I believe Vrabel understood that but clearly his conditions were he wanted final say on people/type of player and the best way to move fast on player acquisition was bringing in Cowden. Bob saw it as a compromise and workable.

Whether Wolf sticks around is a different story.

My guess is that Vrabel sat down with Wolf and had an in-depth conversation. Wolf laid out what he tried to accomplish in 2024 and what he feels held him up (Mayo being the HC causing free agents to not want to come here, a poor coaching staff caused by Mayo having no connections, that poor coaching staff failing to develop rookies/UDFAs/waiver claims), and detailed what his team building philosophy is. Vrabel must have felt that Wolf's reasoning was sound and that he had a good philosophy that matched with Vrabel's own, and that he seemed like a guy he wouldn't mind working with. Additionally, Wolf is respected around the league and I would guess the guys in Cleveland also spoke well of him to Vrabel.

Vrabel is most likely also sympathetic to a guy getting ****ed over due to one bad year and getting shafted by someone else, because that's basically what happened to Vrabel in Tennessee.

So I am not really too surprised to see Vrabel willing to give the guy a chance, but at the same time, he brought in his guy Cowden just in case all of those items really were just excuses. Vrabel will be able to tell fairly early on probably before they even get to March, and if he starts to feel that's the case, he will take action to correct it.

 

[RobertWeathers]

We will not tolerate this level of even handed posts.

I think in the end if Vrabel wins football games - especially Super Bowls, Bob, Jonathan, etc won't care about collaboration as much as they do now.

 

[RobertWeathers]

My guess is that Vrabel sat down with Wolf and had an in-depth conversation. Wolf laid out what he tried to accomplish in 2024 and what he feels held him up (Mayo being the HC causing free agents to not want to come here, a poor coaching staff caused by Mayo having no connections, that poor coaching staff failing to develop rookies/UDFAs/waiver claims), and detailed what his team building philosophy is. Vrabel must have felt that Wolf's reasoning was sound and that he had a good philosophy that matched with Vrabel's own, and that he seemed like a guy he wouldn't mind working with. Additionally, Wolf is respected around the league and I would guess the guys in Cleveland also spoke well of him to Vrabel.

Vrabel is most likely also sympathetic to a guy getting ****ed over due to one bad year and getting shafted by someone else, because that's basically what happened to Vrabel in Tennessee.

So I am not really too surprised to see Vrabel willing to give the guy a chance, but at the same time, he brought in his guy Cowden just in case all of those items really were just excuses. Vrabel will be able to tell fairly early on probably before they even get to March, and if he starts to feel that's the case, he will take action to correct it.

Yep I think you are spot-on. Wolf knows it's Vrabel's show.

My gut tells me the player profiles for each position Vrabes has in mind are very similar to what Wolf went after while Bill was here - thus the pot'l alignment between the two.

As you say, if it goes sideways Cowden is here.

 

[archstanton543]

Vrabel is most likely also sympathetic to a guy getting ****ed over due to one bad year and getting shafted by someone else, because that's basically what happened to Vrabel in Tennessee.

He had two bad years in TN which is why he got fired.

 

[PWRxWLF]

He had two bad years in TN which is why he got fired.

His bad years wouldve been a success over the last few years here.

 

[mike_usagisan]

He had two bad years in TN which is why he got fired.

I'm sure Vrabel might have something to say about the extenuating circumstances of how those years went.

 

[archstanton543]

I'm sure Vrabel might have something to say about the extenuating circumstances of how those years went.

Every coach who gets fired has excuses as to why their firing was unfair to them. I'm sure if you ask Mayo, he'll have a litany of them. Just like Vrabel will about losing the Titans job.

 

[The Gr8est]

Every coach who gets fired has excuses as to why their firing was unfair to them. I'm sure if you ask Mayo, he'll have a litany of them. Just like Vrabel will about losing the Titans job.

Who’s Mayo?

 

[Ross12]

Every coach who gets fired has excuses as to why their firing was unfair to them. I'm sure if you ask Mayo, he'll have a litany of them. Just like Vrabel will about losing the Titans job.

Yep, it all depends on how credible the excuses are. Vrabel probably found Wolf to be credible and he was likely sympathetic to the situation as it aligned with what Vrabel experienced as well. If Wolf's job performance and conduct over the coming weeks reveal that the excuses were not really credible then Vrabel will move on from him.

 

[mike_usagisan]

Every coach who gets fired has excuses as to why their firing was unfair to them. I'm sure if you ask Mayo, he'll have a litany of them. Just like Vrabel will about losing the Titans job.

I keep hoping his wife will tell us what they are.

The point is, did Vrabel learn from the situation that happened in the last two seasons to try to prevent that from happening again? I hope so.

 

[archstanton543]

Who’s Mayo?

The 15th head coach of the New England Patriots. Succeeded Bill Belichick. Lasted one year on the job. He was the coach for the 2024 season.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Why, they can play next to each other

Getting blood clots again so soon is a very bad sign. I think Barmore tries to return one more time, but I won’t be surprised if we hear during training camp he hangs them up.

 

[Thelonious]

It's just logic. Kraft has his guy and Vrabel has his guy. So the tie breaker is either Krafts or Vrabel. I don't think the Kraft's want to be the tie breaker on football things that why they hired these guys and they are still the owners so they can always just put their foot down on anything.

Logic. There is nothing "illogical" about the alternative view. It is your expectation, or hope. which is fine of course, but such evidence as is to be found in various statements offers no evidence whatever to support such a hope. Thet does not logically (heh!) disprove your view, but it doesn't support it either. I like clarity, perhaps to a fault ,and I see I see no valid reason whatever why such a sloppy arrangement - or lack of one - should have been allowed to develop. Certainly there is nothing in Wolf's perforamnce to date which would necessitate it.

 

[PatsFan2]

The 15th head coach of the New England Patriots. Succeeded Bill Belichick. Lasted one year on the job. He was the coach for the 2024 season.

Nitpick much arch.

 

[Ring 6]

You know there will be some, but the risk of a rookie hire going sideways, a la Adam Gase, is there.

Vrabel was a no-brainer hire, and he is reminiscent in many ways to the Pats hire of BB, both in history and style.

We have a chance to be REALLY happy with this hire.

I’ve been thinking this too.
When Belichick was hired I was very optimistic. He had the experience and pretty much everything he said sounded to me like he knew what he was doing, understood the big picture, was committed to doing whatever it takes and would leave no stone unturned. I get the same feeling with Vrabel.

When I knew Belichick was going to win championships here was during his first season. While the roster he inherited was built for a different style of football, he implemented the style he knew he would win with and found out which players could be part of it.

With 125 mill of cap space I am very confident the team we put in the field week 1 of 2025 with Vrabel will be a better team than the one BB put out there in week 1 of 2009.

 

[RobertWeathers]

I’ve been thinking this too.
When Belichick was hired I was very optimistic. He had the experience and pretty much everything he said sounded to me like he knew what he was doing, understood the big picture, was committed to doing whatever it takes and would leave no stone unturned. I get the same feeling with Vrabel.

When I knew Belichick was going to win championships here was during his first season. While the roster he inherited was built for a different style of football, he implemented the style he knew he would win with and found out which players could be part of it.

With 125 mill of cap space I am very confident the team we put in the field week 1 of 2025 with Vrabel will be a better team than the one BB put out there in week 1 of 2009.

I have no doubt in my mind this team will be at a minimum 8 win team next year.

 

[Ross12]

I have no doubt in my mind this team will be at a minimum 8 win team next year.

"We'll definitely win more than 4 games this year" - Jerod Mayo, January 2024

 

[signbabybrady]

Logic. There is nothing "illogical" about the alternative view. It is your expectation, or hope. which is fine of course, but such evidence as is to be found in various statements offers no evidence whatever to support such a hope. Thet does not logically (heh!) disprove your view, but it doesn't support it either. I like clarity, perhaps to a fault ,and I see I see no valid reason whatever why such a sloppy arrangement - or lack of one - should have been allowed to develop. Certainly there is nothing in Wolf's perforamnce to date which would necessitate it.

The thing is and what I was originally trying to point out is that a large percentage of his performance has not occurred in our view.

We don't really know what about his performance got him promoted to EVP. It's safe to say someone thought it was good.

Then all we have to go on is one free agent class and one draft class which includes a potential future franchise QB. I wouldn't call that nothing and it could be the most important thing Kraft sees.

 

[Clonamery]

I have no doubt in my mind this team will be at a minimum 8 win team next year.

RW with the Vegas line...don't bet against it.