Dan Quinn is set to become the next head coach of the Washington Commanders and, in turn, has concluded the hiring cycle for 2024. Barring some unforeseen head coach getting fired, all the open positions have been filled, and two notable names are left on the cutting room floor: Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel.
For Belichick, his market (or lack thereof) is slightly easier to explain. When bringing aboard someone of his legendary stature, you have to rip up the organization and mold it into his image, which is a tall task. That's especially true considering that he's going to be 72 years old at the start of next season. Are teams willing to blow up their franchise for just two or three seasons? It would appear that the answer to that question is no. Given all that comes with Belichick and the major changes that would ensue upon his arrival, it's not too surprising that his pool of potential suitors is a bit smaller than the rest.
As for Vrabel on the other hand, that stands as one of the stranger developments of this cycle that he's currently sitting without a job. The 48-year-old was fired by the Titans back on Jan. 9 after a 6-11 season in Nashville. However, Vrabel was instantly looked at as a top head-coaching candidate this cycle even with his tenure in Tennessee running its course.
Vrabel interviewed with some teams, including the Panthers, Falcons and Chargers, but all of them went in different directions. As for Washington, the Commanders did not seem interested in bringing Vrabel aboard by all accounts and opted for Quinn. So what gives? Vrabel is 54-45 in his six seasons as the head coach for the Titans, 2-3 in the playoffs, won Coach of the Year in 2021 and won the AFC South division twice. Certainly, that résumé should warrant more buzz than he received.
Well, the answer could simply be that things didn't fall correctly into place for him on multiple fronts.
Let's look at the teams that interviewed Vrabel.
The Chargers decided to go with Jim Harbaugh, who was arguably the top head-coaching candidate this cycle, so it's hard to argue with their decision there. While the Falcons went with a defensive-minded head coach in their search, Raheem Morris may have had the edge over Vrabel due to his familiarity with ownership coaching for the franchise from 2015-2020.
Meanwhile, the Panthers decided to hire an offensive-minded coach in former Bucs OC Dave Canales to try and get Bryce Young on a positive track in his development. Vrabel came up through the coaching ranks as a defensive coordinator and, outside of his two seasons with Arthur Smith as his OC in 2019 and 2020, the Titans offense has ranked in the bottom third of the league in points per game and total yards per game during his tenure. For a franchise like Carolina that desperately needs to boost its offense, Vrabel's fit didn't make much sense.
Finally, the wild card for Vrabel was the New England Patriots, who he played for from 2001 to 2009. After they parted ways with Belichick, he was looked at as a logical replacement, but the franchise opted to go with its in-house option of Jerod Mayo. When you lay it out, the stars didn't exactly align for Vrabel on multiple fronts during this cycle.
The biggest second-guess out of the teams that made a coaching hire could arguably be the Commanders. They hired Quinn, who comes over as a defensive-minded coach. While he led Dallas to a top-ranked defense in the league over the last few years and was successful as a former head coach (taking the Falcons to Super Bowl LI), you can make the case that Vrabel is the better coach.
While things may not have worked out in Vrabel's favor this cycle, he will almost certainly be a top candidate next year and could quite possibly make the teams that passed on him in 2024 regret it down the road.
