Mike Vrabel helped out Jim Schwartz two years ago. Now the Browns are keeping Vrabel in the game after his firing with a consultant gig.
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
The Browns are hiring former Tennessee Titans head coach and Ohio State Buckeye legend Mike Vrabel as a consultant in personnel and coaching, a source confirmed.
Vrabel, 48, was fired as Titans coach on January 9 after completing the 2023 season with a 6-11 record. In six years under Vrabel, the Titans were 54-43 with two AFC South titles and three AFC post-season appearances.
Shockingly, Vrabel was shut out from an NFL hiring cycle that saw eight teams name new head coaches.
Vrabel, an Akron native and alum of Walsh Jesuit HS in Cuyahoga Falls, was previously linked to possibly rejoining former Ohio State Luke Fickell, who is head coach at Wisconsin.
But Vrabel linked up with Browns GM Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis last month, and they agreed to an open-ended consultant role.
The Browns have not yet formally confirmed the hiring.
Vrabel also has an association with Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
Schwartz was living in Nashville, TN, in 2021 after leaving the Philadelphia Eagles as coordinator and recovering from a thyroid condition when Vrabel, out of the blue, invited Schwartz to join the Titans as a senior defensive assistant.
Prior to that, Schwartz and Vrabel had no history together.
“My kids were in school in Nashville, and I was back in Nashville, and I’d see his wife Jen walking the dog,” Schwartz said in September. “And we lived close to the same neighborhood in the off-season and stuff. We would run into each other at times.
“He had touched base once or twice a year before that, but when the news came out that I had to step away, it wasn’t anything other than, ‘How you doing?’ And then, ‘Hey, look, come back, have a little fun, and you can contribute.’”
Schwartz gradually gained back his health and stayed on Vrabel’s staff for two years. The break given by Vrabel helped to announce to the league that Schwartz was amenable to a full-time coaching job and it led to Stefanski hiring him as defensive coordinator in 2022.
Schwartz turned around the Browns defense and was named NFL assistant coach-of-the-year by a panel of Associated Press voters.
“I’m greatly indebted to Vrabes for what he did and for helping me out,” Schwartz said.