Was Mike Vrabel ever a prime candidate to be the next head coach of the Raiders?
There were reports as early as November that Vrabel was one of the front runners for the job if Antonio Pierce ended up being fired, but Vrabel never interviewed for the job in Las Vegas and agreed to coach the Patriots less than a week after New England fired Jarod Mayo.
There have been conflicting stories to why the Raiders didn’t show more interest in the Vrabel when so many reports had been tying him to the job.
According to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, there was strong interest in Vrabel from the Raiders, but it wasn’t from the right people.
“Mike Vrabel didn’t get the opportunity to [interview with] the Raiders because of Mark Davis,” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast. “So let’s not pretend. I know that this is the national narrative, but I just don’t want people to pretend like, ‘Oh, gee, the Raiders lost out again.’ There was strong interest when it came to Vrabel, but the strong interest wasn’t from Mark Davis.”
Essentially what Hondo was saying is that Tom Brady was interested in bringing Vrabel to Vegas, but Davis didn’t want any parts of the idea.
According to The Athletic’s Vic Tafur, the hesitancy on the part of Davis had everything to do with disinterest in signing up for another coaching regime with the ‘Patriot Way’ in their DNA.
“Everyone with WiFi service assumed and reported that [Vrabel] was Brady’s guy and would obviously be in the mix for the Raiders job. But Vrabel wasn’t on the Raiders’ interview list last week. One reason may surprise you,” Tafur reported on Sunday. “Davis apparently is not interested in another go-round with ‘The Patriots Way’ after the failure of Josh McDaniels and Dave Ziegler two years ago, according to league sources.”
So for as much as everyone has been pointing to Brady calling the shots in Las Vegas, it sounds like Davis is still comfortable shutting down the ideas he doesn’t like.
Looking back, the ‘Patriot Way’ didn’t work for just about every head coach that left New England. And at this point it’s fair to wonder…
Was the ‘Patriot Way’ more accurately the “Brady Way’ in New England and Tampa Bay?
x: @raidersbeat
Except Vrabel has DONE it, in the sense of being a successful coach outside of New England. And it’s weird that he’s anti-Patriot way when it comes to Vrabel, but has given lots of power to Brady, a guy more associated with the Patriot way than anyone not named Belichick.
Honestly, I think it’s that Mark Davis would be intimidated by Vrabel. It’s the same reason he didn’t interview Harbaugh last year. He wants guys he feels comfortable around, who are nice to him, who pretend he’s a serious owner. I can understand it, but It’s kind of pathetic when you are talking about a billion dollar business.
He only had one year where they were a threat. He was on his way to getting fired year 3 after not improving from Mularkey & he started Tannehill.
They had their run that year over a dead Patriot dynasty, Lamar’s 1st season, then the queefs spanked them. He beat up on the worst division in football the next 2 years as they were beaten @ home back to back seasons. They were a fraud.
I do believe he will be better than Mayo though
I absolutely agree Davis and Vrabel would not have been a good match. I think it was a possibility, somehow word reached Robert Kraft, and that’s why the Patriots jumped in like someone had just put fresh shrimp on the buffet. Who knows? Brady and Vrabel might have orchestrated the whole thing. He’s better than Mayo, he might have a QB in place, so he’ll do alright. It’s not the patsy division it was when Vrabel was playing, or he coached against in Tennessee.