Mike Vrabel reflects on personal growth ahead of Super Bowl return

Appearing in four Super Bowls during his playing days, Mike Vrabel is no stranger to the game’s biggest stage. And yet, Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks will have a different feel to it: it will be his first time back since moving from player to coach.

Vrabel accomplishing this in his first back in New England is a remarkable feat, and testament to his qualities as a head coach. It also, however, is the result of the own personal growth he experienced over the course of his career and especially since his dismissal from the Tennessee Titans in January 2024.

That experience plus his one-year stint as a consultant with the Cleveland Browns have not just set the wheels in motion for him to join the Patriots, but also taught him an appreciation for the profession and an advanced understanding of how to approach it.

“The biggest thing that I learned is that I wanted nothing more than to be a head coach again and just understand how important the connections are with the players and not losing sight of that, even as a head coach,” Vrabel explained on Thursday.

When Vrabel arrived in New England he took over a team that had one just eight games over the last two seasons and was as far removed from its former glory as one could imagine. Three years after last playing in the postseason, the Patriots were now on their third different head coach and in dire need of a rebuild from the ground up.

This included a new vision for the future as well as a refocused identity for the entire franchise. Vrabel took those changes upon himself, and together with his staff hires — including several of his former colleagues from Tennessee and Cleveland — managed to put the train back on its tracks.

Vrabel being able to do so in such a short period of time was a direct consequence of his one-year stint away from being a head coach.

“When I was in my role in Cleveland, which I’m so grateful for, I had a lot of time to spend with assistant coaches. I had a lot of time to spend with players, with young players, with developmental players on Mondays and Tuesdays,” Vrabel said.

“My office wasn’t upstairs where the coaching staff was or where the personnel department was. It was downstairs with the players in the training room and the weight room. So, I kind of got back to the basics of just what this game is about and making connections, and it’s about the people and getting the players to find ways to improve, and to develop them and give them confidence. Maybe it wasn’t something that I wanted to do differently, but it was just an affirmation of what’s important.”