The Real Reasons Bill Belichick Went to North Carolina, NFL Executive on Where Mike Vrabel May go Next | Mailbag

The Coaching Carousel Has Already Made One Bizarre Stop, What's Next?

The NFL rounds into the stretch run as Week 15 looms featuring a pair of potential Super Bowl previews when the Detroit Lions host the Buffalo Bills and the Pittsburgh Steelers head east into Philadelphia to take on their Keystone State rival Eagles.

Meanwhile, Bill Belichick is a Tarheel … wait, what?

Needless to say, this season is reaching a fascinating crescendo.

Before this weekend’s games kick off, let’s tackle your questions, including what likely drove Belichick back to college, where Mike Vrabel might land this hiring cycle, Ja’Marr Chase’s skyrocketing value, and much more, with insight from sources around the league.

To the Mailbag, we go!

Where is the most likely landing spot for Mie Vrabel next season? What are the odds he gets locked out, again? (TCSmithbiz on Threads)

If Bill Belichick can wind up as the head coach at North Carolina, something tells me we are in for a wild hiring cycle.

I’d expect the coaching carousel to make some pretty surprising stops, along the way.

On the surface, Vrabel should be one of the most sought-after candidates this time around. Vrabel especially makes sense for franchises who believe that they are a “culture” or a coach away from being a team firing its head coach on or before Black Monday to one meaningfully believing they have a chance of playing on Super Bowl Sunday.

However, Vrabel — and any retread former head coach, really, may find it more difficult than expected to land that next job.

After all, remember all of the smoke last offseason that Vrabel to the New England Patriots was all but a done deal after Belichick and Patriots owner Robert Kraft mutually decided the time had come to part ways and officially close one of the most successful chapters in the history of American team sports?

There are plenty of situations where Vrabel would make a lot of sense.

While many are already linking Vrabel to the Chicago Bears, thanks to that franchise’s storied history for playing menacing defensive football, and a belief that the pieces are in place around Caleb Williams for a quick turnaround to be just around the corner off the banks of Lake Michigan, that’s not my sense for how this thing plays out.

I posed your question to an AFC Personnel Executive who has worked with Vrabel in the past, and he offered an interesting take on where the former Titans head coach with a .545 winning percentage may be heading next.