COTY Mike Vrabel Lands Low On NBC's Head Coach Rankings

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel

COTY Mike Vrabel Lands Low On NBC's Head Coach Rankings originally appeared on NESN. Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Is it possible that reigning NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel has become underrated since taking the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl in his first season at the helm?

Patrick Daugherty of NBC Sports posted his definitive 2026 head coach rankings across the league, and Vrabel earned the seventh spot.

On one hand, four of the six coaches in front of him have won a Lombardi Trophy in their careers. On the other hand, people like Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh, whom Vrabel beat head-to-head in the playoffs just this past year, are ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.

Vrabel took over a bad roster with a losing pedigree and, in less than 12 months, turned it into a Super Bowl berth and a clear culture reset. It feels as though that is lost on the general public due to the outcome of the Patriots’ 21st game of the season.

Even the ranker himself, Daugherty, presented no case for why Vrabel would be ranked this low.

“The Patriots decided to run an experiment: What might the details-oriented, player-friendly Vrabel accomplish with a young franchise quarterback?” Daugherty wrote. “It’s doubtful even they thought the answer would be ‘instantly make the Super Bowl,' but that’s where Vrabel’s squad ended the year … after another season of overachievement.”

He then admits that Vrabel made much more with less in his first season in Foxboro. To me, I can not think of a clearer example of what a good coach does. I do not think the same can be said for the jobs done by Payton and Harbaugh’s squads in 2025.

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