The New York Jets will interview former Tennessee Titans coach Mike Vrabel for their head-coaching job Friday, a league source said.
It’s the second known interview for the opening. New York interviewed former Washington Commanders and Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera on Thursday.
Vrabel, 49, is considered the top coaching candidate available in this year’s cycle. He went 54-45 in six seasons with Tennessee, making the AFC Championship Game in 2019, and spent this past season as a coaching and personnel consultant with the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland permitted Vrabel to leave the team before the end of the season to begin pursuing his next role.
Vrabel told The Athletic he spent the past year considering what he wants out of his next head-coaching job and formed three priorities: ownership, collaboration and quarterback.
“There’s got to be clear communication with ownership, so that we understand as coaches what the expectations are,” Vrabel said. “That’s so we can explain to them what’s reasonable, what we can do, what we probably can do and what we’re going to try to do — or die trying. I want to have a structure in place that people see the game the same way I do from an X’s and O’s standpoint, from a personnel standpoint, with team-building. We would hopefully have that alignment, which is critical.
“And I would like to be able to say that there’s a quarterback that you feel like you can win with — or that there’s a path to find the one that you can win with.”
New York, which is 4-12 entering its regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, fired coach Robert Saleh after a 2-3 start to the season. Jeff Ulbrich, who was previously the defensive coordinator, is 2-9 as interim coach.
New York has already interviewed four candidates for its vacant general manager role — ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, former Atlanta Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff, former Titans GM Jon Robinson and executive director of the Senior Bowl Jim Nagy.
Jets get a head start on competition for Vrabel
If there was any benefit to the Jets firing Saleh early — even if it didn’t exactly work out in-season — it’s that it allowed the Jets to get a head start on head-coaching interviews. And not only that — but an interview with the top candidate in this cycle.
Vrabel is expected to draw interest from every job that’s already open (Jets, New Orleans Saints, Chicago Bears) and the ones that could still open up. That the Jets are getting the first interview is notable and a smart move for them. Vrabel is expected to be their top target and they have some appealing things to offer — a solid offensive line, offensive weapons in Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall, and talent across the defense — but also some negatives, like an uncertain future at quarterback with Aaron Rodgers and the reputation that owner Woody Johnson likes to meddle.
How would he fit in New York?
There is not a better candidate suited for the Jets than Vrabel, as highlighted in my piece on Friday. Vrabel’s Titans teams were always known for a few things: attention to detail, discipline and toughness. In any given week, they might’ve been outmatched talent-wise, but Vrabel always had them competitive — and he was an expert in game management situations, which the Jets have struggled at. Bigger than any of those attributes, though: Vrabel is the kind of coach that will build a culture of actual accountability, an issue in the Saleh and Ulbrich era. Vrabel used to camp out by the training room before dawn to make sure all of his players showed up for treatment on time. He’d call out stars in front of the entire team if necessary. The Jets need that energy.
(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
