The Daily Mail says a “Patriots insider” reports team management is looking at a former Steelers coach as a Mike Vrabel backup plan.
Mail reporters Russ Weakland and Ben Nagle said ex-Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin is a possible replacement.
The married Vrabel, distracted for the past three weeks denying an affair with a married NFL reporter, ran from the paparazzi Tuesday in Utah, where he owns a vacation home.
Patriots ownership reportedly does not want to fire Vrabel, though as the controversy grows, it’s possible something could happen, The Spun and then the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.
PB Sports Talk, who has a track record of athletic predictions on Twitter, said he has no doubt Vrabel “will either get fired or take an extended leave of absence, likely resulting in him missing the year.”
Meanwhile, TMZ aired a video of one of a photographer chasing the baseball-capped Vrabel with his back-pack briskly walking to his car at a Utah airport.
The fotog blistered him with rapid-fire questions about any accountability he may have, following his apparent six-year dalliance with Dianna Russini.
Vrabel, obviously flustered, refused to answer any of the questions directed to him.
As he arrived to get into the driver’s seat of an unoccupied SUV in an airport parking garage, he appeared shaken – enough to forget to take off his backpack, witnesses reported.
So he had to step back from sitting in the seat, to then deal with the backpack, before taking his seat behind the steering wheel.
Though former Steelers head coach Tomlin has signed with sports media agency The Montag Group, according to Front Office Sports, an offer of a head coaching job in New England might be tough for him to turn down.
Pending a coaching offer, agents Sandy Montag and Alex Flanagan will represent Tomlin in potential contract talks with networks and streamers.
It’s expected Tomlin, 54, will play an analyst role for NBC in an NFL studio setting.
Commenting on today’s Daily Mail report, Ken Laird, on Boston’s WEEI sports radio, said it appears that Patriots owner Robert Kraft may be getting nervous that Vrabel may decide to leave.
Kraft reportedly is worried about the continuing fallout from the Vrabel/Russini affair as seen in several canoodling photos recently published by the New York Post.
The Pats owner has said he supports Vrabel to remain as head coach.
Laird commented on the Vrabel debacle on only the second day of WEEI’s newly-staffed afternoon drive-time show, “Rich and Ken, with Ted Johnson.”
Stepping up the Vrabel gossip is a way for WEEI to improve its ratings, now in the tank, as it battles with rival Boston sports radio 98.5 The Sports Hub.
Speculating that Coach Mike may soon be replaced is a good way to that end.
