Deal 'came together pretty quickly' to hire Akron native Mike Vrabel as Browns consultant

ORLANDO, FLA. — The thought of adding Mike Vrabel to the Browns organization was incredibly appealing to general manager Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski. They had their reservations, though, how appealing it would be to the man who was fired as the Tennessee Titans head coach in January.

"The open question was, 'OK, this is probably the first time in his life that he's had a chance to step away and kind of relax away from football,'" Berry told a small group of beat writers, including the Beacon Journal, on Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings. "'Would he be even interested in coming aboard and helping?' And we learned very quickly that he was interested and if he wasn't interested, his wife was probably going to make him be interested."

That's what led Vrabel, 48, back to the favorite team of his childhood. The Browns hired him two weeks ago to serve as a "coaching and personnel consultant."

Vrabel, the Akron native who was a star player at Walsh Jesuit High School and Ohio State, was let go after six seasons as the Titans head coach on Jan. 9. Berry said the only real hurdle for them was making sure there were no hurdles at home, which made the process much easier to navigate.

"From there it actually came together pretty quickly," Berry said. "I think the other element is if you're a GM or a head coach, you don't usually have the opportunity to use another general manager or head coach as a sounding board within your league. You may have friends in the NBA or hockey or baseball that you can do it. With Mike, because we'd had such a good relationship with him for a number of years. He really was the perfect fit for that group."

That group also includes Browns defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz, who previously served in a similar capacity for Vrabel. Schwartz spent the 2021-22 seasons as a senior defensive assistant for Tennessee, where Vrabel allowed him the opportunity to essentially do as he pleased to help the organization.

What Vrabel's exact duties will be haven't been defined. Both Berry and Stefanski declined to talk specifics, whether it was on the personnel side or the coaching side, although Stefanski said Monday it's "as much as he’s comfortable with."

Vrabel went 54-45 in the regular season as a head coach, going to the playoffs three times and winning the AFC South title twice. Berry believes that, regardless of specific role, Vrabel's addition can only improve the Browns as a whole.

"I think any person who sat in a head coach's seat, they just have a broader perspective," Berry said. "No different than if you go from being a scout to a general manager, you just have a broader perspective in terms of team building and some of the challenges that come into place. There are a lot of good relationships with Mike in our building between Kevin, myself, Jim. We love having him around and we're using him in a variety of areas that we think that he can help with, but we're happy to have him aboard."

Adding a football mind such as Vrabel to the organization isn't a new concept. There were some who may have wondered what the addition of another former head coach meant for Stefanski, but those concerns no doubt dissipated after owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam announced they were close to extensions with both their general manager and head coach.

It's also not something that seems foreign to Berry considering his own experience. It was part of a common practice while he was working under general manager Howie Roseman with the Philadelphia Eagles.

"That's something that we've very much tried to do with coaches and front office personnel," Berry said. "Philly does it a lot when I was there. Howie's always employed that strategy and it's certainly something that we would mimic."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Mike Vrabel deal came together quickly to become Browns consultant