Patriots fans who remember Mike Vrabel’s playing days know him as one of the most outgoing, extroverted personalities in the NFL. The former Titans head coach was a master prankster in New England, pulling stunts on teammates, coaches, and staff alike. No one was safe from his antics, and his sense of humor often left people both laughing and annoyed.
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But despite his reputation as a jokester, Vrabel isn’t as easygoing as people might think. Certain things genuinely get under his skin, and when they do, he has no problem letting you know.
In a conversation with ‘The Athletic’s’ Dianna Russini, Vrabel revealed what bothers him most outside of football. Beyond his demand for perfection on the field, nothing irritates him more than certain people in parking lots. And it doesn’t stop there.
“People, when they leave their carts in the middle of the parking lot, and they don’t take them back to the cart return.”
He has an even bigger pet peeve: able-bodied people who deliberately park in handicap spots at places like Starbucks. Vrabel admitted he gets so frustrated that he often waits for offenders to come out just to confront them face-to-face.
” The people at Starbucks park in a handicapped spot and go in there and try to get their order from the mobile order. By no means handicapped. I look in the dash, and then I wait and approach them, and I say things like, Why did you park here? One person would be like, I’m DoorDash. I don’t care. That’s unacceptable. And then there is the mom who is going to yoga, and she’s rushing because she is late. And I’m like, this is ridiculous. I wish I had a boot. I would boot their cars, like a mobile boot.”
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Mike Vrabel has always been a man of passion, and who can blame him? The very things that annoy him most would drive almost anyone mad. Wars have been fought for less. That intensity is the same quality he brings to everything in his life, from everyday interactions to the way he coaches football.
Vrabel’s willingness to speak his mind has long been one of his greatest strengths. He showed that trait after his firing in Tennessee, when the Browns briefly brought him on in a loosely defined role under Kevin Stefanski. With no specific title, Vrabel did what came naturally: he connected with players.
It’s always been one of his most valuable qualities, and in Cleveland, he leaned into it. He had the time to talk, to listen, and to build relationships. He did it so much, in fact, that Browns owner Dee Haslam jokingly nicknamed him “Human Resources.”
Now, Mike is back where he belongs: running a team as the Patriots’ head coach. But this time, the task is monumental; reviving a proud franchise that has fallen on hard times. The demands of the job will leave him with far less time for those casual conversations that once defined his presence in Cleveland.
Instead, he has handed much of that responsibility to John “Stretch” Streicher, New England’s vice president of football operations and strategy. A trusted lieutenant from Vrabel’s days in Tennessee, Stretch will now serve as an extension of the head coach in Foxborough, ensuring his trademark emphasis on connection continues, even as his focus shifts to the enormous task of rebuilding the Patriots.
