With the Jets getting ready to look for their next head coach, a potential name has reportedly entered the mix.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini’s said on the Flight Desk podcast that former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel has told people that he is open to taking the job. However, he would only fill the vacancy if he approves of the general manager hire.
New York is looking to fill both positions after firing head coach Robert Saleh and GM Joe Douglas at different points during this disappointing season.
Vrabel, who was the head coach of the Titans from 2018 to 2023 and is currently a coaching and personnel consultant for the Cleveland Browns, has also said that he doesn’t care what Bill Belichick — the former head coach of the New England Patriots — might think of Jets owner Woody Johnson, and that he would interview and decide on his own, per Cimini.
Belichick criticized Johnson after the team fired Saleh, saying, “Look, that’s kind of what it’s been there with the Jets. [They have] barely won over 30 percent [of their games] in the last 10 years. The owner being the owner, just ready, fire, aim.”
Earlier that same day, Belichick called the firing a “premature move” and that it “seemed like a little early to pull the trigger.” He followed that up by calling out Johnson, saying it wasn’t out of character.
“[Johnson] has always been kind of hard to predict what he’s gonna do,” Belichick said. “Some of it just is hard to make sense out of, but I think Saleh did a good job there.”
Although Belichick was the head coach for the Patriots during his time in New England — where Vrabel spent eight seasons as a player — he also acted as the de facto GM, just as he did when he was the head coach of the Browns between 1991 and 1995. Belichick also has ties to Gang Green, having served as their assistant head coach and defensive coordinator from 1997 to 1999.