Titans name Mike Vrabel next head coach

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The have agreed to a deal that will make defensive coordinator Mike Vrabel their next head coach, GM Jon Robinson and owner Amy Adams Strunk announced on Saturday.Robinson stre sed throughout this quick search he was looking for a "leader of men" and he believes Vrabel checks the box."I have always had a great deal of respect for Mike as a player and as a coach," Robinson said. "I saw him up close as a player for the Patriots and saw how he prepared himself to be succe sful on a daily basis. He was the ultimate team-first player and he embodies that same mindset as a coach. He is intelligent, energetic, detailed and a leader whose deep pa sion for this game will resonate with our players. As a coach, I have seen him develop talent at both the college and NFL level, and put players in position for them to be succe sful. I am excited to get him in front of our team and watch us grow together as a team."Vrabel has this coaching thing down pretty good: he was able to fire out some key buzz words ("play fast," "aggre sive") in his initial statement through the team. "This Jack Crawford Jersey is an incredible opportunity and one I have been preparing for my entire football life," Vrabel said in a statement. "I want to thank Amy, Jon and the entire Titans Josh Doctson Jersey organization for putting their faith in me. I am excited to get to work and that work starts now. We want to build a culture around winning, competitivene s and toughne s. Everything we do is going to be geared towards winning and being physical. We want to prepare our players so they know what to do, which will allow them to play fast and aggre sive." The new head coach of the Tenne see Titans is Mike Vrabel. Leader of Men Tenne see Titans (@Titans) Here's four things to know about Vrabel's hiring.Quick coaching riseVrabel's had a meteoric rise up the coaching ranks, retiring from the NFL after the 2010 season and immediately jumping into coaching. He worked under Urban Meyer at Ohio State (his alma mater) from 2011 through 2013 as both the linebackers and defensive line coach with Ohio State before jumping to the NFL.The former All-Pro linebacker and three-time Super Bowl winner joined the Houston Texans coaching staff as the linebackers coach -- with his former defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel -- in 2014, serving in that role until this year when he was promoted to defensive coordinator (Crennel was bumped to a sistant head coach under Bill O'Brien and will reportedly shift back to DC now that Vrabel is gone). Vrabel is a young coach, at just 42 years old, but he is also 11 years older than Rams coach Sean McVay, who became the youngest NFL head coach when Los Angeles hired him last year. Going from a college linebackers coach in 2011 to being an NFL head coach in 2018 is wild, though. That's a fast move up the ranks.Teams were trying to lure him away last season to run their defenses, but Vrabel remained. The opportunity to take over the Titans was apparently too much.Patriots connectionVrabel has strong Patriots connections with GM Jon Robinson, having played for New England from 2001 through 2008. Robinson was in the scouting department with the Pats from 2002-08. Vrabel, an Akron, Ohio native, was drafted in the third Colt McCoy Jersey round of the 1997 NFL Draft by the Steelers. He would play in Pittsburgh four years before Bill Belichick brought him into New England via free agency. Vrabel thrived as a linebacker in Belichick's system, making the Pro Bowl and All-Pro in 2007. Bonus: the Patriots turned him into an offensive threat! Vrabel was targeted 14 times in his career and caught 10 pa ses, all for touchdowns. It was wild how teams would the Pats (and later Chiefs) were throwing the ball to him in the red zone and no one could stop it. Here's a big old package of highlights set to some terrible music: Who will run the offense?The presumption Andre Baccellia Jersey when the Titans fired Mike Mularkey was that they would go out and grab an offensive mind. Vrabel is, quite clearly, not an offensive guy (despite his frequent trips to the end zone as a player). But the Titans have to figure out a way to improve the situation for franchise quarterback Marcus Mariota and to get the most out of Derrick Henry and Corey Davis.One name to watch is another guy who interviewed for the job: Rams offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur. LaFleur left the Falcons as quarterbacks coach to join McVay in L.A. last year, and the Rams offense took off. CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora has reported multiple times on the Pick Six Podcast -- for all the latest scoops and a dollop of sarcasm from our potentially award-winning crew -- that McVay would likely let LaFleur leave for a lateral job if he was to get play-calling duties. Presumably, Vrabel won't be calling the plays in Tenne see. Mi sing McDanielsIt has to be noted when talking about Vrabel's hire: the Titans were widely rumored to be pursuing Josh McDaniels, the Patriots' current offensive coordinator. McDaniels, who continues to draw scrutiny based on how his first stint as a head coach went (he famously flamed out with the Broncos), is once the Patriots are eliminated from the playoffs.A suming it happens, the Vrabel and McDaniels hires set up a fascinating dynamic in the AFC South. McDaniels couldn't have known for sure the Titans job would open up. After all, in Week 17 and again against the Chiefs in the playoffs. Even when the Titans upset Andy Reid and Kansas City, a statement from Strunk was ... .So now McDaniels is going to be in Indy coaching against a guy in Vrabel who he worked with previously in New England, with Zaven Collins Jersey the awkwardne s of Tenne see probably wanting McDaniels once upon a time and McDaniels maybe wanting the Tenne see job. It's basically like in "Seinfeld" and both ended up with the wrong twin. Watching how these two franchises perform moving forward will be fascinating in that regard.