After having just one head coach in Bill Belichick for over two decades, the New England Patriots are now on their second head coaching hire in two seasons. The Patriots gave up on Jerdo Mayo following a brutal 4-13 record in the 2024 NFL season.
New England later found a replacement for Mayo in the form of another former Patriots player in Mike Vrabel.
But unlike Mayo, Vrabel comes in with experience as an NFL head coach already. Before getting hired to coach the Patriots, Vrabel coached the Tennessee Titans for six seasons. Prior to that, he was the defensive coordinator for the Houston Texans. He even won the 2021 NFL Coach of the Year.
New England Patriots TE speaks from experience about Mike Vrabel
With Vrabel coming back to New England, this time as a coach, he will be relying on some of the vets to help him, including one who’s quite familiar with his coaching style in tight end Austin Hooper.
The 30-year-old Hooper had played before under Vrabel, back when he spent a season with the Titans in 2022. He certainly knows a thing or two about how Vrabel runs a team.
“It was different the first time. I’m not speaking outside the family here – a very strong personality, a guy who’s played before, a guy who taught me a lot, and at first, it was a tougher transition,” Hooper said, adding: “It was my first time being around a head coach in that style.
“By the way, please don’t take that the wrong way. You should like your boss to demand a lot of you. So, it was the first time being with a defensive-style head coach. So there was a little transition.”
During his only season with the Titans, Hooper played in 17 games and accumulated totals of 444 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 41 catches. He landed with the Las Vegas Raiders in 2023 before signing a one-year deal worth $3.125 million with the Patriots in 2024.
New England seemingly liked what it saw from Hooper last season, so the team inked him to another one-year contract worth $5 million. The Stanford Cardinal product recorded 476 receiving yards and three touchdowns on 45 catches through 17 games in his first season with the Pats.
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