What is the relationship between Josh McDaniels and Mike Vrabel?

Beasley Digital

Zolak and Bertrand think of one word to best describe the relationship between Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels.

Transcript

00:00Hey, last night I was on Early Edition.

00:02You were?

00:02Arbella Early Edition with Trenny, NBC Sports Boston.

00:05One night out of the week, I didn't see it.

00:06Damn you.

00:07What happened?

00:08It was a fine program.

00:11I enjoyed my time very much, as I always do.

00:13So who were you on with?

00:14It was me and Trenny in studio.

00:17And Curran and Perry were here in Foxborough doing it.

00:21Still here live.

00:22Yeah, they were here all day.

00:23How are they doing?

00:23Guys are on Warriors yesterday.

00:25Anyway, the nice thing was Phil's shirt dried out by the time he went on TV at 6 p.m.

00:30So anyway, I think I struck a nerve with those two.

00:37A little bit.

00:38Just a sports nerve, not a personal thing.

00:40A sports nerve.

00:41What take did you dish out?

00:43I said this about the McDaniels.

00:46It was a fill-in-the-blank.

00:47The McDaniels-Vrabel relationship is what?

00:51So before we play it, one word.

00:54The McDaniels-Vrabel relationship is?

00:59What is it?

01:00Fine.

01:00Respectful.

01:00Fine.

01:01Respectful.

01:02Okay.

01:02What adjectives would you use?

01:04I would go weird.

01:06All right.

01:07I used the word awkward.

01:09Here's how it went.

01:10Yikes.

01:11He was here as a coach for a long time.

01:14He's had a couple of failed head coaching stints.

01:16And now he's working under a guy who was a player when he was already coaching in the league

01:21and coaching for that team with that player on it.

01:24So that doesn't mean that the relationship is bad or there's any issues between the two.

01:28It's just a little unusual, maybe a little bit awkward.

01:31You don't see that a lot.

01:34Curran, how would you?

01:35I need to see some evidence of this before I sign off on the awkward.

01:40I understand the dynamic that you're saying in sort of broad terms.

01:43I don't know if Beatle has seen something.

01:44No.

01:44He has been out here at practice.

01:45No, no, no.

01:45I know he's watching closely.

01:47I'm saying the setup is awkward.

01:48He hasn't seen anything.

01:48No, no, no.

01:49Like I said, this is not based on there being anything wrong with the relationship.

01:52It's just an awkward setup from the jump, even if they're the best of friends.

01:56It's just, it's a little different.

01:57You don't see this a lot.

02:00I think it's a tidy fit.

02:02I really do.

02:02You have a guy who understands how good Josh McDaniels is as an offensive coordinator,

02:07having watched what, to that point, was the greatest performance in NFL history of an offense in 2007,

02:13and Vrabel was on that team, so he could feel comfortable that I can look over here

02:17and see what Josh is doing, learn from it,

02:18or I can wander over here and help Darrell Williams with the defense.

02:21You have a ready-made, it came with the building to an extent,

02:26offensive coordinator in Josh McDaniels, who was just down the street in Westwood.

02:29You bring him in, I just, I can't find any kind of downside to it.

02:34No downside whatsoever, tidy fit, and they're giving me the look, you guys.

02:39You can't see when we just play the audio, but the look those two gave me when I said,

02:44it's awkward, it's unusual.

02:46I mean, Phil wants to see evidence.

02:48He wants a presentation of the evidence.

02:51My presentation is this.

02:53Josh McDaniels has a deeper coaching resume than his head coach.

02:58True or false?

02:59True.

03:00Deeper, far more experience, far better experience running one side of the ball,

03:07and I know that as a head coach, he has flamed out spectacularly in two spots.

03:12I mean, he failed in major ways in both spots.

03:15So Mike Vrabel has better head coaching experience.

03:18Josh McDaniels has way more coaching experience

03:22and has had way more success running one side of the ball.

03:25Mike Vrabel doesn't have some resume of running a defense that's been best in the league

03:30or an all-time defense.

03:32McDaniels has that on the offensive side of the ball.

03:34His expertise on offense exceeds any expertise of Mike Vrabel as a head coach.

03:41End of story.

03:42It does.

03:43And so if you don't think egos get in the way at some point,

03:46I'm not saying it ruins a relationship or it's going to be a problem for the team.

03:50I'm just saying everybody comes into it with an ego.

03:54Everybody has strong opinions.

03:56When you're a good coach, you must have strong opinions about what you're doing.

03:59Both of those guys are strong coaches.

04:03Strong coaches can sometimes have an awkward relationship.

04:06How many times have you seen that in professional sports and in the NFL?

04:10Name it.

04:11It happens.

04:13It's a natural part of the thing that this is.

04:17I want to see evidence.

04:18I think anybody that's coached with Bill would say that their time with him was awkward

04:22because Bill's awkward.

04:24Like, it's tunnel vision.

04:25Josh has talked about it.

04:28The second Mike was hired, I said my first reaction was go get Josh McDaniels.

04:32It's heavy.

04:32Like, I'm a current on that.

04:33It's like it's just a fit because you're going to fix the quarterback.

04:37You're going to have a better offense.

04:38You're going to have better protection schemes.

04:41And you get back to doing things the right way.

04:43And Brady has helped Josh.

04:43I like the path Mike has taken from a coaching standpoint.

04:47You could say Josh's coaching career is deeper.

04:51Yeah, it is.

04:51I like the fact Mike went to Ohio State.

04:53Then he was linebacker's coach with Houston.

04:55Then you become coordinator.

04:57Then you end up being the head coach with Tennessee.

05:00Then you get fired.

05:00Then you go be a consolary for the Cleveland Browns.

05:04You get to sit back and be sort of an advisor.

05:06So, it kind of became full circle to get back here to where you played as a player one.

05:11I like his journey better than Josh's.

05:14Josh had the opportunity to play the greatest quarterback or coach the greatest quarterback

05:17that ever walked the earth.

05:18And I think that helped him a lot.

05:20But it got him to the point where I feel comfortable him being a coordinator.

05:24I said that's the most natural hire.

05:25The easiest hire for Mike Vrabel.

05:27Second, he got hired.

05:28I said that day one.

05:29Go get Josh.

05:30All the ex-players say it.

05:31Gronkowski.

05:31Go get Josh.

05:32Go get Josh.

05:33It's an easy one.

05:34So, I agree.

05:35Josh McDaniels was the right hire.

05:36But Josh McDaniels was also a coach when Mike Vrabel was a player, right, for the staff.

05:42There's this old internet clip that I love.

05:44It's these two old news guys, right?

05:46And one's on the desk and one is in the field.

05:49And the guy on the desk asks the reporter to ask a question.

05:53And the reporter goes, hey, don't tell me how to do my job.

05:55I used to be your boss.

05:56And then the news anchor says, yeah, and there's a reason you're out there now and I'm here now.

06:00Because the thing is flipped.

06:02And that's the way I feel about this situation, right?

06:04Don't you think a little?

06:05Just in terms of the resume itself, it could get a little awkward, 100%.

06:09All you got to do is go back to the Super Bowl.

06:11No, no, McCone.

06:13Evidence.

06:13When Phil comes on, you better provide evidence to him of this.

06:17Former teammate of my Teddy Bruschi.

06:18And his reaction to the Josh and Vrabel thing looked at me like I had two heads.

06:22Yes, two heads.

06:23Yeah.

06:24Evidence?

06:25And by the way, you're all compromised on McDaniels.

06:29Zoe, Edelman, Gronk, Perry, Curran.

06:33You're all compromised on this guy.

06:35He's media friendly and he's a good dude.

06:37And you all like him.

06:39It's fine.

06:40He's a good guy.

06:41I get it.

06:42I've enjoyed our interactions with him on this show.

06:45He's been great over the years.

06:47You're all compromised on McDaniels.

06:49If Drake May sucks this year, who do you think is going to take a fall for that?

06:53Josh.

06:53Drake May?

06:53You think they're going to get rid of the quarterback?

06:55Nope.

06:55They're going to get rid of Josh McDaniels.

06:58That's what's going to happen.

06:59And there's more on that coming up because I think that's obvious.

07:04And by the way, I don't think that's going to happen.

07:06I think McDaniels will be good for Drake May.

07:08I think Drake May is about to have a great year.

07:10I don't think that that's going to be an issue or someone is going to be taking a fall

07:14because it's not going to play out that way.

07:16So don't take that the wrong way.

07:17That's not a prediction.

07:19But I do think that at some point, a guy who's been coaching for as long as McDaniels

07:23has been coaching and a guy who, with offense, has done a very good job in his career and

07:29has a ton of coaching experience, isn't at some point going to say, no, it needs to be

07:35done this way.

07:36And the head coach, who also has strong opinions, will say, well, I think it should be done this

07:40way.

07:41That's going to get awkward.

07:43It's also natural.

07:44100%.

07:45That's how it's supposed to play out, where head coach and coordinators and position coaches

07:50are able to have a fight and a real dialogue and a real back and forth.

07:56That's the thing that we wanted under Bill for so long.

08:00And that's one of the, let me twist this back around.

08:03It's one of the positives of hiring someone like Josh McDaniels.

08:06He will gladly push back on Mike Vrabel because he has the resume to be able to do that with

08:12confidence.

08:13Isn't that kind of the thing that went off the rails for Bill?

08:16Yes.

08:16He didn't have people that pushed back at the end there?

08:19Yes.

08:20Absolutely.

08:20He only would hire his friends.

08:23So I don't know that Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels are great friends.

08:27And that might be a great thing for how this team plays.

08:30Evidence.

08:33Evidence.

08:34Show me evidence.

08:37I'm not out there talking to them during practice.

08:41I'm not accusing anybody of anything.

08:43This isn't an accusation.

08:45I'm not presenting a case against these guys.

08:48More on that.

08:50Because I think Josh McDaniels has more at stake right now than Mike Vrabel does.

08:55I think Mike Vrabel's got time to mold this team and this program and time to have success.

09:01Even though the team is operating with a sense of urgency, I think he's got time on his side.

09:06I don't know that McDaniels does.

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