Patriots hire Mike Vrabel as new head coach

Yahoo Sports’ Jason Fitz reacts to the news of Mike Vrabel being hired as the New England Patriots next head coach.

Video Transcript

Mike Vrabel is the new head coach of the New England Patriots, which means arguably the most coveted available head coach in this hiring cycle is now off the market.

Certainly we can argue whether or not there should have been something the Patriots tried to figure out last year, which wouldn't have been easy given the assurances that were made to Gerard Mayo in his contract about succeeding Bill Belichick.

But the point here is that Robert Kraft has again brought somebody in the building that he is comfortable with establishing the new version of whatever the Patriot way looks like.

Now Rael is somebody that's coveted in part because he is perceived to have done a very good job in Tennessee year in and year out despite what could have been some of the deficiencies on that roster and despite the way that frankly, the Titans are viewed as an organization overall, the success that Rael had and the success that the Titans haven't had without him are all indications of why people.

We're asking him to come in and help turn around losing cultures.

This is something that Rabo is incredibly comfortable with, especially in New England, where even though the expectations are so wildly high right now for a team that's obviously rebuilding, Rabo knows exactly what he's stepping into, not just from a sense of what the fans' expectations are, but frankly from a relationship with the owner.

His history with the Patriots and his history with Robert Kraft should be important parts of this decision.

I realized we could say the same thing about Gerard Mayo, but let's understand something here.

Mike Vrabel had the opportunity to be very choosy in what he wanted for his second shot as a head coach in the NFL.

He's choosing to step back into the Lions' den of the Patriots' job, knowing full well what he's getting into.

That has to speak to what he believes is going to happen behind the scenes.

It has to speak to some level of comfort with the current structure of.

Ownership and front office, and it has to speak to confidence that Rael believes he has, knowing that the expectations will be wildly high because of his history with the team and the owner.

But if anybody can deliver those expectations, it's Mike Rael.

Congratulations, New England.

I'm not sure the Patriots are suddenly going to turn around and be an epic team.

There's a lot of time between now and next season for us to figure out what that roster looks like.

But today right now, Patriots fans are celebrating getting the biggest name in the open coaching market to come home to New England.