Tennessee Titans fire head coach Mike Vrabel after six seasons

BOSTON  -- The NFL coaching carousel took an interesting turn on Tuesday. The Tennessee Titans have fired head coach Mike Vrabel after six seasons.

The Patriots haven't made a decision on Bill Belichick's future in New England, but Vrabel is reportedly open to coaching his former team should the position becomes available. Now that Vrabel is out there, we'll see if Robert Kraft decides it's time to make a change.

A former linebacker, Vrabel played eight of his 14 NFL seasons in New England and won three Super Bowls as part of Belichick's defense. He had a knack for making big plays in the biggest moments and even caught a few touchdown passes along the way (eight of them, to be exact). He was inducted into the team's Hall of Fame in October.

The 48-year-old spent the last six years as head coach of the Titans and led the team to winning records in each of his first four seasons. The Titans went 41-24 in regular season play from 2018-21, and made it to the AFC Championship Game in 2019.

But the Titans suffered back-to-back losing seasons under Vrabel in 2022 and 2023, going 7-10 and 6-11, respectively. Overall, he was 54-45 during his time with the Titans.

Vrabel reportedly did not see eye-to-eye with Titans general manager Ran Carthon about the direction of the franchise, and Tennessee opted to move on from the head coach. Vrabel didn't ask out or ask ownership for a trade, and the Titans believed that working out a trade with another team for their head coach "was too complicated and would have taken too long," according to Diana Russini of The Athletic. 

So now Vrabel is free to find a new coaching gig elsewhere. There are rumblings that he could end up at his alma mater, Ohio State, under head coach Ryan Day, but Vrabel will probably get another shot in the NFL.

If the Patriots do end up needing a new head coach, Vrabel will likely be in the mix given his relationship with Kraft and the organization. But if the Krafts are looking to take the franchise in a new direction, they may not want to bring in another defensive-minded coach like Vrabel.