Before attending NFL Combine, Mike Vrabel made special visit at children's hospital

 

Before Mike Vrabel and his staff took off for Indianapolis to interview prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine, there was one special man he wanted to meet first locally: a long-term patient at Boston Children’s Hospital.

Mar 06, 2025 at 11:22 AM

Before Mike Vrabel and his staff took off for Indianapolis to interview prospects at the NFL Scouting Combine, there was one special young man he wanted to meet first here in Boston.

You won't find Jayden's name on any mock drafts or college football rosters – he's a 15-year-old from Cape Cod. But after he wrote a letter to the newly hired New England Patriots coach, Vrabel made it a priority to visit him before leaving town.

 "Jayden is a long-term patient at Boston Children's Hospital, and he's just an awesome kid," said Jane Searfoss, a child life specialist in the pediatric intermediate care unit.

"He makes everybody smile. We're always talking about Boston sports. He's a huge sports fan and he is always craving connection."

For his care team, sports have been a go-to way to give Jayden that connection.

His tutor, an Ohio State University graduate, was hoping to get the teenager motivated for a writing project back in January – right around the time when the Patriots hired Vrabel, another former Buckeye.

Inspiration struck.

"They connected over Ohio State and the Patriots and decided to make the writing project a letter to Mike Vrabel, and it was an awesome letter," Searfoss said.

"They got some Ohio State gear to send off to Mike in hopes of getting a letter or a video back."

Ultimately, Jayden got much more than just a letter or a video response.

When Boston Children's staff contacted the Patriots community relations team to deliver Jayden's message, Vrabel didn't just respond—he wanted to do more.

"(Vrabel) read what was going on with Jayden and asked to just come see him," said Alexandra Hladick Bueno, the hospital's media relations manager.

"He was like, 'Can I come? Can I come tomorrow to meet him?' And this was all right before he had this huge trip. For me and all of us here at the hospital that just says so much about who he is, coming here on a Friday night at 6 p.m. to see one patient."

Staff couldn't wait to share the news with Jayden. His first question? Whether his tutor could be there too.

Fortunately, his care team had already taken care of those logistics, so they got to work to give Vrabel a warm welcome.

"We spent the day getting his room decorated," Searfoss said.

"He got to tell his family and he talked about it all day. He was so excited. Things like this are so amazing because it gave him something to look forward to. It's hard to be here for so long. Days can pass by and just feel the same. That's why this was so important. He's already printed out the pictures for his room and has been showing everybody the Polaroids of them both."

Having two sons of his own, staff says Vrabel was a natural in his attempts to get through to the teenager.

They played catch, took photographs, and even talked about the upcoming NFL Draft. Jayden had plenty of insight to offer Vrabel, and the head coach was sure to instruct John Streicher, Patriots vice president of football operations and strategy, to write it all down.

"It was just awesome to see that connection because they clearly bonded immediately," Searfoss said.

"I know to see Jayden sit up and smile like that is really heartwarming for everybody on our staff. And for someone like Mike to talk to our staff and take a photo was a huge morale boost for everybody involved. It's a hard job to be here and support these patients through everything and he was just amazing."

At the visit, Vrabel also met with about 20 staffers at Boston Children's, who largely benefited from the morale boost.

"One thing that really stuck with me that he said while we were leaving was, "You know, those ladies up there, they really love him,'" Hladick Bueno shared.

"Just having that moment where he totally recognized how much our care teams love our patients. He was very struck by that."

Before leaving, Vrabel signed a football for Jayden, writing 'We're so proud of you." He told the boy that he'd be hanging up the letter inside his office at Gillette Stadium.

The head coach left with one request: for Jayden to keep writing to him.

Why Ravens' extensions could reset safety, center markets

 

Jamison Hensley

Feb 21, 2025, 06:00 AM ET

 

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta really couldn't hide his excitement in 2022 when he drafted safety Kyle Hamilton and center Tyler Linderbaum in the first round.

"We're all thrilled we got, in our opinion, the very two best players at their positions [in the 2022 draft]," DeCosta said.

Three years later, DeCosta can now say Hamilton and Linderbaum have become among the best at their positions in the league, making the Ravens extremely strong up the middle on both offense and defense. Hamilton, selected with the No. 14 pick, and Linderbaum, the No. 25 pick, have reached the Pro Bowl in the 2023 and 2024 seasons and they're two of the team's top leaders, too.

This offseason, Hamilton and Linderbaum are in line to be rewarded for their success. They're eligible for contract extensions and could reset the market at their positions.

Hamilton could surpass the Buccaneers' Antoine Winfield Jr., who became the NFL's highest-paid safety when he signed a four-year, $84.1 million contract last May. Linderbaum could exceed the Kansas City Chiefs' Creed Humphrey, who became the league's highest-paid center when he agreed to a four-year, $72 million deal in August.

 

The Ravens can retain Hamilton and Linderbaum for two more seasons. Their contract extensions were a topic of conversation at Baltimore's end-of-season news conference last month.

"We'll work on that," DeCosta said. "I think I sat up here in 2019 and said we're going to try to retain as many of our good young players as we can, and I think we've done that. I'm proud of that, and I think you'll see that continue this offseason."

The 2022 draft is only the second time in Ravens history where two players selected in the first round of the same draft reached the Pro Bowl. The only other time that occurred was the Ravens' 1996 draft, when they picked future Hall of Famers in Jonathan Ogden and Ray Lewis.

Hamilton has made an impact all over the field. In the past two seasons combined, he is the only player in the NFL to record over 100 tackles and at least five sacks, five interceptions and 15 pass breakups.

In 2024, Hamilton had to play more deep safety because Baltimore was allowing too many big plays in the passing game. There's hope that the Ravens can add another safety, which would allow Hamilton to play in different spots like he did in 2023 and, as DeCosta said, "become that sort of Swiss Army knife again."

"Kyle Hamilton has got to be the perfect build for any DB," Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua said. "He has the size to play inside the box and the speed and athleticism to play in the back end. Not everybody has that."

 

Linderbaum is the third Ravens offensive lineman to reach multiple Pro Bowls in his first three seasons, joining Ogden and current Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. Durable and tough, Linderbaum is the only offensive player for Baltimore to participate in over 93% of the team's snaps in the last three seasons.

 

Last season, Linderbaum ranked No. 2 among centers with a 96.5% pass block win rate. His one sack allowed was the fewest among all centers with at least 600 snaps.

ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday, who was a six-time Pro Bowl center, said Linderbaum helps 6-foot-2 quarterback Lamar Jackson.

 

"You want to be strong in the middle of that pocket for small-in-stature quarterbacks," Saturday said. "The last place you can afford a bunch of issues is up the middle. That's just not something that you want to be dealing with. I think that's why he's going to stay in Baltimore. He'll continue to be an exceptional center because what they do fits what he is. There's a level of comfort when you know what the guy's going to call, what protections you're going to be in and what you're going to get."

 

New coaching metric offers praise for Vrabel, concerns over Callahan

 

SIS formula aims to calculate expected wins number

John Glennon

Feb 12, 2025

A new metric aimed at grading coaches’ performance offers some long-term appreciation for former Titans coach Mike Vrabel while forecasting concern over current Titans coach Brian Callahan.

Sports Info Solutions, a sports data website, recently debuted an “expected wins stat,” measuring how many games a team should have won based on measurables from every play of every game. The formula uses a summed version of each player on a roster’s “wins above replacement,” which SIS takes from its Total Points player value stats.

SIS then uses the players’ performance on the field as a measure of the team’s quality and converts it to an expected wins number for the team — and the coach.

For example, the Kansas City Chiefs, per the SIS formula, should have been expected to win only 9.8 games during the 2024 season. The Chiefs won 15 games, meaning coach Andy Reid is credited with 5.2 wins over expected.

Reid has three of the best six wins over expected seasons since 2016, which is when SIS began tracking football. In 2016, the Chiefs produced 4.4 wins over expected during a 12-4 season. And in 2020, Kansas City totaled 3.7 wins over expected during a 14-2 season.

Which NFL coach has the most wins over expected since 2016, based on the SIS formula?

It’s Vrabel, whose 10.1 wins over expected as Titans coach from 2018-23 have him ahead of Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin (9.9), Las Vegas’ Pete Carroll (9.7), Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell (8.1) and former Houston coach Bill O’Brien (7.9).

Jeff Dean of SIS writes that Vrabel’s position atop the list “may be a little bit of a surprise, but he overperformed his team’s expected wins in five of his six seasons as the Titans head coach. The only season the team underperformed was his last [in 2023]. If you hear anyone say that Vrabel gets the most out of his players, think back to his presence atop the list here.”

The coach who fared worst in combined wins over expected since 2016 was former Buffalo and Jacksonville coach Doug Marrone (-9.6), followed by ex-Indianapolis, Arizona and Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians (-9.2).

Former Dallas coach Jason Garrett had the worst wins over expected in a single season, with a minus 5.2 figure in 2019.

Callahan was not listed among the five individual worst seasons for wins over expected since 2016.

But SIS compiled another list — "most and fewest total wins expected per three seasons since 2016” — that included Callahan. He has obviously coached only one season, but the formula is designed “so everyone with at least 16 games coached, this is what we’d expect from them in 3×17 = 51 games.” 

Using that system, Callahan — if his Titans continued on the same path as 2024 — would be expected to compile by 2026 a minus 7.3 figure, which would rank fourth-worst among all coaches since 2016. Former San Diego Chargers coach Mike McCoy currently has the worst mark in that measurement at minus 12.9.

Callahan took his share of blame for the Titans’ 3-14 season, which netted Tennessee the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. He has every intention of changing the team's direction in 2025.

“Ultimately, I have to do a better job as a head coach so we're not in this position again at any point,” Callahan said following the season.

“Don't have any interest in repeating this season, although there's lots of things to glean from it lessons wise. I don't want to be in this position again, and I'm fully determined and resolved to get us to a point where we don't have to talk about how many games we've lost. We can talk about how many games we won.”