Mike Vrabel

Michael George Vrabel (born August 14, 1975) is an American football coach and former linebacker.

In the fourth quarter, Tom Brady threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Vrabel, making Vrabel the first defensive player to score a Super Bowl touchdown on offense since William "Refrigerator" Perry did so for the Chicago Bears against the Patriots in 1986's Super Bowl XX.

Vrabel was one of the defensive stars as well; he had two sacks (one forcing a fumble) of Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme.

He is a 1993 graduate of Walsh Jesuit High School in nearby Cuyahoga Falls, where he was a standout on their football team coached by Andrew Slome.

Vrabel accepted an athletic scholarship to attend Ohio State University and played defensive end from 1993 to 1996.

He compiled twelve quarterback sacks as a sophomore, thirteen as a junior, and forty-eight tackles and nine sacks as a senior.

Vrabel finished his career at Ohio State by being named the Big Ten Defensive Lineman of the Year in both 1995 and 1996, becoming the first of two players to ever win the award twice (Wendell Bryant of Wisconsin being the other).

He accumulated 36 sacks and 66 tackles for a loss.

As a senior in 1996, he was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American.

He played college football at Ohio State, where he was a consensus All-American, and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round of the 1997 NFL Draft.

Vrabel was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the third round (91st overall) of the 1997 NFL Draft.

He spent the first four seasons of his career in Pittsburgh.

His most notable play as a Steeler came in his rookie season, when he strip-sacked Drew Bledsoe in the 1997–98 AFC Divisional Playoffs to clinch a 7–6 win for the Steelers.

Vrabel had 12 tackles and 2.5 sacks in 1998; 9 tackles and two sacks in 1999; and 15 tackles, one sack, and one fumble recovery in 2000.

He was named to the Ohio State Football All-Century Team in 2000, and in 2012 was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame.

In a four-year stint with the Steelers, he was mainly a reserve player before joining the New England Patriots as a free agent in 2001, where he gained a larger role as an eventual starter and was key member of their early 2000s defenses.

With the Patriots, he became a three-time Super Bowl champion and a First-team All-Pro during his eight-year tenure.

Noted for his versatility, Vrabel scored a receiving touchdown in consecutive Super Bowls, Super Bowl XXXVIII and Super Bowl XXXIX, becoming the only primarily defensive player to score in two Super Bowls.

Vrabel joined the New England Patriots as a free agent for the 2001 season.

He played in every game on defense, starting in 12.

He would occasionally come in as an eligible receiver, lining up as a tight end.

He caught one in 2002, two in 2004, three in 2005, and two in 2007 in the regular season, and one each in Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX, all with the Patriots, and one each in 2009 and 2010 with the Chiefs (thrown by former Patriot Matt Cassel).

According to the website Cold Hard Football Facts, no other player in NFL history has a better record of converting receptions to touchdowns.

His versatility was good enough for NFL Network to rank him #7 on their Top 10 episode of the Most Versatile Players.

Bill Belichick took advantage of this in 2004 in Super Bowl XXXVIII.

In Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005, Vrabel caught a two-yard touchdown pass despite being held by the Eagles' Jevon Kearse, a feat pictured on the cover of the 2005 NFL Record and Fact Book.

The reception made him one of 17 players to catch two or more touchdown passes in Super Bowls.

Vrabel finished with ten career receptions in just 14 targets, all for touchdowns.

On December 26, 2005, on the final Monday Night Football game on ABC, Vrabel became, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, the first player—since the official recording of sacks began in 1982—to have two touchdown catches and a sack in the same game.

Though right outside linebacker had been Vrabel's primary position in the Patriots' 3–4 scheme in his first four seasons with New England, in 2005 Vrabel moved to inside linebacker, because of the limited effectiveness of inside backers Monty Beisel and Chad Brown, although he had never before played inside in the NFL.

By the time Tedy Bruschi returned from injury, he and Vrabel were the two men starting inside.

Rosevelt Colvin successfully filled Vrabel's old spot, and many cite the change in positions as a major contributor to the Patriots' rebound in the second half of the season.

In Week 8 of the 2007 season, Vrabel forced three fumbles, had three sacks, recovered an onside kick, and scored an offensive touchdown against the Washington Redskins, for which he was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Week.

In December 2007, he was selected to start at the Pro Bowl; in January 2008, he was named to the NFL All-Pro team for the 2007 season.

He then finished his career with the Kansas City Chiefs, after being traded there in 2009.

After retiring as a player following the 2010 season, Vrabel was the linebackers and defensive line coach at Ohio State for three seasons.

His NFL coaching career began in 2014 with the Houston Texans as linebackers coach and then defensive coordinator, before becoming the Titans' head coach from 2018 to 2023.

He left his post on 9 January 2024.

Vrabel was born in Akron, Ohio.

He most recently served as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans of the National Football League (NFL) from 2018 to 2023.