Should the New England Patriots ultimately hire Mike Vrabel in the coming days to fill their head coaching vacancy after firing Jerod Mayo on Sunday, it sounds like his potential defensive coordinator could be someone he can hit the ground running with.
New York Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen is the name people believe could be under consideration to join Vrabel, which would certainly be an interesting addition. Bowen came under fire for much of last season for the Giants performance on defense, which saw them allow 415 points in 2024, the 12th highest total in the NFL, just behind the Patriots, who gave up 417.
Giants co-owner John Mara indicated he wasn’t happy, saying, “we need to make improvements there” while speaking to reporters on Monday.
Following the firing of Antonio Pierce by the Raiders this week, there was a fair amount of speculation that Pierce could be hired by the Giants, with Bowen potentially being let go. Instead, Mike Garafolo reported on Thursday that for now, there’s no indication of a change at the defensive coordinator position.
That makes sense, given that the Raiders certainly weren’t better in that category last season. They allowed 434 points in 2024, 8th highest in the NFL and the sixth worst point differential at -125, just ahead of the Patriots, who finished at -128.
However, it’s possible that Bowen could be open to instead moving on and getting a fresh start, and it sounds like that might be direction things could take depending on where Vrabel ends up.
As for what Bowen’s potential addition to Vrabel’s staff might mean, Greg Bedard of Boston Sports Journal said on his recent podcast with co-host Nick Cattles that Bowen being with Vrabel would negate some of Bowen’s shortcomings, due to the fact that Vrabel knows how to coach a defense extremely well.
“I’ve just heard from a couple of people that he’s not very impressive,” said Bedard of Bowen. “I mean, look, and I don’t know, I’m not telling you this, but you’re also getting Mike Vrabel. And unlike Jerod Mayo, Mike Vrabel actually knows how to coach defense and will help that side of the ball a lot if it needs it. And that combination was really good, especially with rushing defense.”
“Bowen and Vrabel did a nice job together. They work together well. And that’s why if Vrabel can get a guy like Josh McDaniels as basically head coach offense, and he was even that under Bill Belichick in the later years, that frees up Vrabel to do all his Vrabel things, like tinkering with the defense and game management and thinking up crap to do during the game. That’s the best situation for Vrabel.”
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
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I don’t care who the defensive coordinator is if Vrabel is the coach. It’s more important that he gets Josh McDaniels as his offensive coordinator!
Absolutely agree. Can’t afford to get the offensive coordinator wrong, and they need to make sure they keep continuity there over the first few years as Maye continues his development.