Landry's history with Vrabel worth revisiting as Titans star seeks trade originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
New England Patriots fans all had the same thought when ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Wednesday morning that the Tennessee Titans have granted Pro Bowl linebacker Harold Landry permission to seek a trade:
Time for a reunion with Mike Vrabel?
The connection is obvious: The Titans selected Landry in the second round of Vrabel’s first year as Tennessee’s head coach in 2018, and Landry spent the next six seasons playing for Vrabel while developing into a Pro Bowl-caliber linebacker who racked up 22.5 sacks between the 2021 and 2023 seasons. (He missed the 2022 season due to a torn ACL).
So now that Vrabel is head coach of the Patriots, should he pursue a trade with his former team to acquire his former star pass rusher, who also is a product of Boston College?
The on-field need for Landry is obvious; the Patriots finished last in the NFL in sacks last season (28 in 17 games) and desperately could use a dynamic pass-rusher. And while Landry has a $17.5 million base salary with a $24.1 million cap hit in 2025, New England has the most cap space in the NFL and can afford take on his hefty contract.
But would Vrabel want to bring Landry back — and would Landry want to play for Vrabel again?
We’ll direct you first to Landry’s comments after the Titans’ final game of the 2023 season, when asked if he could imagine playing for a different NFL head coach than Vrabel.
“Not really to be honest,” Landry said at the time, via the Nashville Post. “Because … I’ve been with him my whole career. I feel like my time I spent with him and this defensive staff, I feel like I can kind of speak on them.
“I feel like with [Vrabel], my entire career, situationally, I’ve been as prepared as I can possibly be for every game. I feel like if you just look at [the Titans’ season-ending win over Jacksonville], you know guys are playing hard for him, guys are wanting to win for him and … I really can’t imagine him not being the Titans head coach. I mean, I just can’t.”
That quote suggests Landry is a big fan of Vrabel and believes Vrabel can set him up for success. But it’s also worth highlighting Landry’s comments in September 2024 after Brian Callahan had replaced Vrabel as head coach.
“I feel like now when guys show up here now, that they feel like they can be confident and be themselves and they can operate how they know they best operate to perform as good as they can on Sundays, because everybody is different,” Landry said, via the Gallatin News. “I feel like guys are happy that they can come into the building and kind of trust the work that they’ve been putting in.”
“I feel like the old way was everybody was kind of locked into one way of doing things,” Landry added. “But now the box has been opened. There’s so many more people involved in the preparation process.”
Those comments aren’t an explicit shot at Vrabel, but it sounds like Landry enjoyed the change of scenery from Vrabel, who is known to be very demanding with his players.
The Titans went 3-14 last season under Callahan, so his system didn’t exactly produce results. And perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, Landry still would view New England as an attractive destination, because he knows Vrabel can get the best out of him on the field.
As trade speculation around the 28-year-old linebacker persists, however, Landry’s thoughts about Vrabel with and without him as head coach are worth considering.
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