WEEI Afternoons: Ted Johnson knew 20 years ago Mike Vrabel would be a head coach

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Transcript

00:00All right, we go to the phone lines now. Joining us here on WEI Afternoons is

00:04the godfather of the NFL Combine, maybe just the godfather of NFL football coverage,

00:09John McClain, dear friend of Ted Johnson, joining Andy Hart, Nick Fitzy, Stevens,

00:15and the former Patriots linebacker, John McClain. How are you doing this afternoon?

00:19I couldn't be better guys. How are you?

00:21We're tremendous, John. Good to have you, buddy. Thank you for taking time with us.

00:24So we're looking, John.

00:25My pleasure.

00:26We're looking for a little insight, obviously, into what you believe Mike Vrabel is,

00:32what he was in Tennessee, and maybe what he can be moving forward. Obviously,

00:36a lot of people, including Bill Belichick, are better head coaches the second opportunity they

00:41get. So what kind of coach do you think the New England Patriots are getting in 2025?

00:45Let me tell you a story. In 2001, after the Oilers had moved to Nashville, I covered the NFL.

00:52Greatest job in the world. Anywhere I wanted to go, spend any amount of money,

00:58write whatever. And I love New England. So my wife and I would come up there a lot because

01:03they were winning and they were such a great story. And I went in the locker room one day

01:07and I went over, introduced myself to one of the inside linebackers, told him I knew

01:14he had spent a lot of time in Houston before he moved. And that was Ted. We hit it off.

01:19And so Ted would talk when I'd be in there and he says, Mike Vrabel, he's going to be a head

01:24coach someday. And I'm thinking, yeah, right. I didn't want to insult Ted. And I asked him,

01:31I said, why do you figure? He said, well, he talks to Belichick. He stays late. He wants to

01:36be a coach and he's got everything it takes to be a head coach. And so one time when he was a

01:42defensive coordinator here under Bill O'Brien and I was in a local cafe and Mike was in there,

01:51his parents were in town. So he's with Jen, the boys and his parents and they're waiting in line.

01:56He introduced me to his parents, his dad. I said, Mike going to be a head coach in three or four

02:04years. Mike goes, two. And then he got the head coaching job in 2018 with the Titans.