If that happens and we want him fired, presumably Maye will be entering his prime, and the next coach will get to have a fully loaded Drake Maye at the peak of his powers. There would be some excellent options for HC at that point. I'd sign up for that winning percentage right now (which would be 56-46 over six 17-game seasons) because I think that it will take a couple of years to get up to speed. So say it goes like this over the next six years:
I think you can't really do that... if you pick the guy he likes you skew their power structure, if you pick the other guy, you set up an awkward situation and create friction.
I think it's going to be more a reflection of how much power they yield to Wolf. If they really want him running the front office, it seems like he and Johnson are at the very least familiar with each other and could potentially partner together, whereas Vrabel is more likely going to want his own guy.
Yeah, probably no way. Just that it would be desirable to have a guy who has actually coached or played the game on the call. Wonder exactly who was on the call.
From where we’re sitting right now, 54–45 actually looks pretty good… Especially if it’s trending up as others have mentioned already. There are pros and cons to either Vrabel or Johnson…
If it's Johnson, they can't realistically do so until after the Lions complete their season. (I mean, they could ... but I can't imagine Johnson would like that.)
If we don't hear tomorrow, then I think they prefer Johnson. But I think we'll hear tomorrow.
Thanks. But we don’t have to wait for Detroit’s season to be over to hire Johnson if he is our guy.
They might wait until Monday for various reasons, but it would probably leak Sunday night
The Jets having already interviewed Vrabel and today getting into Rooney rule compliance makes me wonder if Vrabel to NE is not as much of a done deal as I thought. I figured Jets would be waiting for Glenn but idk.
Yeah, there are a ton of “I’m sure thats” going on that assume better process, mostly because bad processes are circularly bad.
There’s no floor on team performance, but Vrabel has demonstrated that he’s a competent head coach; Johnson hasn’t. The “floor” for Johnson is Jerod Mayo 2.0; the floor for Vrabel is higher than that. Shouldn’t be a major consideration, but could be a tiebreaker if you’re undecided between the two.
My guess is that there will be leaks when reference checks begin, and we’ll have guys like Schefter, et al., reporting with higher confidence that Vrabel (or Johnson) is the Pats’ guy a day or two ahead of the formal announcement.
This is why you don’t run a weeks-long search. The Jets job is uniquely unattractive, but I expect both Vrabel and Johnson will have offers in hand from other teams by the end of next week. The Pats could and should have crammed a couple more interviews into their process, but they had to move at a pace that would be unthinkable for such an important job search in another industry. They certainly didn’t have time to go hire a new GM first.
Your larger point is correct (Vrabel more of a known quantity with a proven track record), but Johnson this year and Mayo last year are not really similarly situated. Johnson is a highly sought after coaching candidate who is currently one of the best offensive coordinators in the NFL.
Yes. The past choosing Vrabel over Johnson, or vice versa, or even decide to hire someone else (although that seems highly unlikely at this stage), is not how this process goes wrong.
I’m pretty confident Vrabel wants the gig, all signs are there. The tricky thing now is if they prefer Johnson, how do they navigate this? Probably a private call to Johnson with an ultimatum on a very quick decision, which might not be totally fair, but is necessary. And then you’re also relying on that info not leaking to potentially scare away/piss off Vrabel.
The Pats can only move to Johnson if they are absolutely sure he'll take the job. Losing out on Vrabel and Johnson is a disaster. Because of that, I'd expect Vrabel to be the pick and I'd expect the decision by the end of the weekend.
Maybe both sides are reasonably sure it isn’t going to end in a deal, but Johnson wanted a practice interview, and the Pats wanted to be able to say they did a search. Win-win.
I lean toward Johnson over Vrabel, so I certainly didn’t mean to suggest he’s comparable to Mayo. (That said, your reading of my post is fair; it was inarticulate on my part.) I only meant to make the point you did here — Johnson hasn’t been a head coach, so there’s a non-zero chance he totally sucks at it, whereas Vrabel has demonstrated competence in role.
Agree. This forum prooves out the old adage "no one knows anything" every day. All these definitive takes about floors and ceilings are kinda silly.
This! Some people assume Vrabel won't progress in his coaching ability, but Johnson, with NO prior HC experience, will excel. We don't know either, but the likelihood of Vrabel progressing is probably greater than Johnson succeeding as a first time coach. This is where the personal assessment of these two candidates by Kraft & Co. is essential in getting a sense for each.
Ugh it’s so over. I was hoping they would go for Johnson but this clearly sounds like Vrabel. I hope I‘m wrong about the offense. In 2025, culture and discipline mean nothing if you don’t have an innovative and explosive offense. If you are just hoping to “keep it close” and ”make some plays at the end” you are not winning a Super Bowl.
I voted Johnson, but I don’t presume either of them will be great or mediocre. Who knows? I don’t particularly think two playoff wins in six years is a glittering resumé, but of course he could do better next time à la BB, Tito, KC Jones.
Now that would be a funny twist on some of my posts and further cementing I am an idiot…I want to move past Josh but Johnson, the ‘bleeding edge offensive genius’, would pick Josh. Love it.
