As the Cleveland Browns look to build on their 11-6 regular-season record in 2023, they are making a major addition to their coaching staff.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Field Yates, the Browns have hired former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel as a coaching and personnel consultant. Per The Athletic’s Robert Mays, the plan is for Vrabel to “act as a sounding board for Kevin Stefanski but also as a resource for a coaching staff with a lot of youth and turnover.”
A native of Akron, Ohio, the 48-year-old Vrabel spent his high school career at Walsh Jesuit High School and went on to star at Ohio State. Following a 14-year NFL career that included stints with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs, he returned to Columbus to serve as an assistant coach for the Buckeyes in 2011.
Browns are hiring former Titans head coach Mike Vrabel as a coaching and personnel consultant, per @FieldYates and me. Vrabel now returns to Ohio, where he was a standout Ohio State LB. pic.twitter.com/NPhXHhTe1q
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 15, 2024
In 2013, Vrabel made the jump to the NFL, joining the Houston Texans’ staff as an assistant coach. After spending the 2017 season as Houston’s defensive coordinator, the Titans hired the 2007 first-team All-Pro as their new head coach and he went on to amass a 54-45 regular-season record in six seasons with the franchise, including three trips to the playoffs.
After a 6-11 season in 2023, Tennessee made the surprising decision to fire Vrabel, who was just two years removed from being named the 2021 NFL Coach of the Year. In returning to Northeast Ohio, he’ll join a Browns staff that features the reigning NFL Coach of the Year in Stefanski (who also won the award in 2020), as well as defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who worked for Vrabel as a consultant in Tennessee in 2022.
