Patriots’ Mike Vrabel Takes Home Coach of the Year After Stellar 1st Year in NE

Mike Vrabel has the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, but the head coach has already received some hardware ahead of Sunday’s game. Vrabel has been named Coach of the Year for the 2025 season, it was announced at Thursday’s NFL Honors. Vrabel beat out Liam Coen of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Ben Johnson of the Chicago Bears, Mike Macdonald of the Seattle Seahawks and Kyle Shanahan of the San Francisco 49ers. “Ultimately, my name will go on this award, but this award belongs to a building,” Vrabel said. “It belongs to a staff and ultimately it belongs to the men in the locker room who believed when they couldn’t always see it and also bought in when it wasn’t easy. Appreciate that and everything they do. We did this together, and I always be thankful and grateful to be your coach.” Vrabel received 19 first-place votes to Coen’s 16 and finished with 302 points. Coen had 239 points after leading the Jacksonville Jaguars to 13 wins and an AFC South title in his first season. Macdonald got eight first-place votes and finished third (191). Johnson received one first-place vote and came in fourth (145). Shanahan had six first-place votes to place fifth (140). This marks Vrabel’s second Coach of the Year win. He won the award in 2021, when he led the Tennessee Titans to a 12-5 record. Vrabel’s the 14th coach to win Coach of the Year twice, and the seventh coach to win it with two different teams. Vrabel took over the Patriots in 2025 after the team fired Jerod Mayo and instantly made them a title contender. New England went 14-3 after two straight 4-13 seasons, winning the AFC East en route to winning the AFC title. Vrabel will seek to become the first head coach to win Coach of the Year and the Super Bowl in the same season since Bill Belichick did so in 2003 when the Patriots take on the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX on Sunday. A New England win would also make Vrabel the first person in NFL history to win a Super Bowl as a coach and player for the same franchise. Vrabel won three Super Bowls as a player with the Patriots. Earlier this week, Vrabel’s former teammate, Tom Brady, named him one of his four recipients for LFG Coach of the Year. “Vrabes, you’re like my brother,” Brady said. “I love ya, I’m so proud of ya. Even though you went to Ohio State, your caliber of decision-making was questionable back then, you’ve become a great teammate of mine and a Super Bowl champion. Not to mention a great goal line, and I’m just going to mention a goal line, wide receiver. You didn’t do anything outside of the 1-yard line. So, you’re not that good as a wide receiver, but you’re a hell of a coach.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.