Former Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel will have to wait another year for a chance at being an NFL head coach after all of the openings dried up, with the Washington Commanders’ vacancy being the last one.
While Vrabel received interest from the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Chargers, Vrabel didn’t get an interview with Washington before the team settled on Dan Quinn as its next head coach.
As it turns out, he was never even considered for the job, which was obvious because of the lack of an interview.
Why? Well, an unnamed NFC executive told The Athletic’s Dianna Russini and Ben Standig that Commanders general manager Adam Peters was never going to hire Vrabel because he was fired by the Titans, a team now led by general manager Ran Carthon, who used to work with Peters in San Fran.
“The Commanders passed on Vrabel because of (Titans GM) Ran Carthon,” the exec said. “He fired (Vrabel). Adam Peters was not going to hire the coach that his friend just fired. That’s how this works sometimes.”
To be clear, the decision to fire Vrabel was owner Amy Adams Strunk’s and not Carthon’s, at least based on everything we know about the situation.
This report comes on the heels of Russini shedding some light on why Vrabel didn’t land a head-coaching gig in this cycle.
“I don’t think there was a fit for him,” Russini said on The Athletic Football Show. “I don’t think he sat in front of any owner who thought that his style was going to work for what they were looking for…”
“I had a GM at the Senior Bowl who mentioned to me Vrabel’s physical build,” she added. “That he’s a very large human being. And can be very intimidating to people in an organization that are going to be part of these decisions. And that is a factor.”
l absolutely laughed at the notion, but the GM followed up by saying, "I'm just telling you, I've been in rooms. And somebody's physical presence can make a difference”
However, this is not the reason despite it being a very entertaining theory. https://t.co/CJUgMOfmg5
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) February 6, 2024
It was thought that Vrabel would land another job quickly, but clearly teams around the NFL didn’t value him the same way.
