Stephen A. Smith thinks Tedy Bruschi might walk away from ESPN if Mike Vrabel asked him to join the Patriots coaching staff.
The First Take host floated the idea on his SiriusXM radio show last week, pointing to the bond between the former Patriots linebackers as something powerful enough to pull Bruschi away from his 16-year broadcasting career.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Tedy Bruschi decided one day he didn’t want to do television, if he was out there, coaching under Vrabel,” Smith said. “Because they’re a family. And I think that goes a long, long way towards establishing culture, which is what the New England Patriots needed when Tom Brady departed. And Bill Belichick wasn’t able to pull that off.”
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The Patriots are 9-2 and riding an eight-game winning streak under Vrabel, who’s transformed a franchise that went 4-13 in back-to-back seasons into one of the league’s best teams. It certainly seems that Vrabel’s culture-first approach has been the difference.
Bruschi and Vrabel played together from 2001-08, winning three Super Bowls as part of New England’s dynasty. Bruschi called Vrabel “the brains of the unit” when Vrabel got the Titans job in 2018. The two remain close friends. When the Patriots hired Vrabel in January, Bruschi gave him a ringing endorsement on ESPN, saying Vrabel would “tighten the screws” on an organization that had grown soft under Jerod Mayo’s one-year tenure.
“He’s the right man for the job,” Bruschi said at the time. “Vrabel isn’t going to joke around.”
Whether Bruschi would actually leave ESPN remains to be seen. He’s been with the network since 2009, one week after retiring from football. He’s established himself as one of their most reliable NFL analysts, appearing regularly on NFL Countdown, Get Up, and First Take. He’s 51 years old with a stable media career and no coaching experience beyond an advisory role at Arizona from 2021-23.
If Bruschi joins the staff at some point, it would validate everything Smith said about the family culture Vrabel’s building. But even if he doesn’t, the fact that Smith sees it as plausible shows how quickly Vrabel has transformed the organization’s reputation.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.