The New England Patriots’ resurgence has been a major storyline of the season, primarily due to the coaching of head coach Mike Vrabel. Sophomore quarterback Drake Maye looks like he might be the best of the quarterbacks taken in the top three picks of the 2024 draft, beating out Caleb Williams and Jayden Daniels. This season, he has 2,555 passing yards, 19 passing touchdowns, and five interceptions, as well as 283 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, leading the team to an 8-2 record.
Vrabel is the best head coach the team has had since Bill Belichick, and he shouldn’t even be in that position. Before coaching the Patriots, he served as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans, where he compiled a 56-48 record and led the team to multiple playoff appearances. Vrabel was fired dramatically following the 2023-2024 season, and he took a year off from coaching before landing in his current role.
The drama surrounding his firing remained dormant until this year’s trade deadline arrived.
Drama at the Deadline: Mike Vrabel and Amy Adams Strunk
At the deadline, the Patriots were rumored to be interested in bolstering their running back room, which already includes Rhamondre Stevenson and Treyveon Henderson. The name that came up in rumors was Tony Pollard, who currently plays for the Tennessee Titans.
In addition, there were rumors that Amy Adams Strunk, the controlling owner of the Titans, refused to do any deal with the Patriots. Mike Vrabel had this to say regarding the rumor:
“I haven’t talked to Amy since the day she fired me. So her name and my name should not be in the same sentence together.”
#Patriots HC Mike Vrabel on the report that #Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk refused to trade with New England:
“I haven’t talked to Amy since the day she fired me. So her name and my name should not be in the same sentence together.”
(🎥: @TheGregHillShow) https://t.co/hzVQWrvdIq pic.twitter.com/YESSuKtncn
— New England Sports Fellow (@_JosephManning) November 10, 2025
As it sounds, Vrabel wants nothing to do with the Titans, more specifically, Strunk. He doesn’t confirm whether there were trade talks between the Patriots and Titans, but he made one thing clear: he resents Titans ownership.
Following the departure of Vrabel, the Titans hired head coach Brian Callahan. Despite taking over the team during a rebuilding period, Callahan did not meet the standards ownership wanted and was fired earlier this year after compiling a 4-19 record.
Now, Vrabel can watch on and laugh as the two teams are on very different trajectories.