With Mike Vrabel about to coach another team in Super Bowl LX, it’s hard for Cleveland Browns fans to avoid thinking about what might have been. Had the timing worked out differently, Vrabel could be coaching their team instead.
That’s not to say the Browns would have been able to make it all the way with Shedeur Sanders as their quarterback, despite his Pro Bowl status. But based on how their recent search for a new head coach wound up, with Todd Monken the choice for the future, many fans would have preferred the potential alternate outcome.
However, Browns legend Josh Cribbs says those who believed Vrabel would have picked their team are just fooling themselves, and he is shutting down that narrative.
“We should’ve offered Vrabel? He wasn’t gonna come here,” Cribbs said.
"We should've offered Vrabel? He wasn't gonna come here." #DawgPound@JoshCribbs16 doesn't understand the "Browns let Vrabel walk" narrative.
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— The Top Dawgs Show (@TopDawgShow) January 31, 2026
After being fired by the Tennessee Titans following the 2023 season, Vrabel did not land a new head coaching position in that next cycle. So, he joined the Browns’ staff as a consultant under head coach Kevin Stefanski.
Then, despite a woeful three-win season, the Browns decided to give Stefanski one more try, which led to Vrabel hitting the market as the top available candidate. The former Patriots linebacker was hired by his former team, which had decisively moved on after one failed season with Jerod Mayo as the successor to Bill Belichick.
The New England turnaround under Vrabel was as impressive as it was unexpected. Second-year quarterback Drake Maye became an NFL MVP candidate, the Patriots dethroned the Buffalo Bills atop the AFC East, and they defeated the Denver Broncos on the road to win the AFC Championship Game.
Meanwhile, the Browns won five games, Stefanski was fired, and Monken was brought on board after finalists Grant Udinski and Nate Scheelhaase didn’t work out, for various reasons. Though Monken could eventually lead a turnaround, the bar has been set incredibly high by what Vrabel has done.
It’s hard to reconcile the fact that Vrabel was already part of the organization, and the Browns may never really know what his answer would have been had he been offered their job.
NEXT: Former Player Gets Candid About What Todd Monken Is Really Like
