NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
SAN FRANCISCO – The Tennessee Titans were a perennial playoff contender with Mike Vrabel manning the sideline, but they wanted more. So they waived him after the 2023 season.
That decision proved costly considering the Titans haven’t been close to the playoffs since, and Vrabel is now in the Super Bowl with the New England Patriots.
Maybe that’s destiny for Vrabel and the Pats. Vrabel was an All-Pro linebacker in New England. But for Titans fans, it’s naturally fair to wonder, “What if?”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Pakinomist
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel celebrates after the AFC Championship Game against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High on January 25, 2026 in Denver, Colo. (Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
Former Titans Pro Bowl tight end Delanie Walker thinks so.
“We’re kicking ourselves. The whole state of Tennessee is kicking itself to see what Mike Vrabel has done to be able to play in a Super Bowl,” Walker said in a recent interview with Pakinomist Digital. “He did this so we knew what kind of caliber of coach he was.”
Walker’s last two NFL seasons were Vrabel’s first as a head coach. Vrabel was Walker’s fourth coach while at Tennessee, but something about him was different from Mike Mularkey, Ken Whisenhunt and Mike Munchak.
“This is a big thing, honestly. A lot of coaches have this problem, and that’s being honest with players. Some coaches, they’ll tell you one thing and do another. They’ll lie to your face and go upstairs and say, ‘Can we cut him?’ Mike Vrabel doesn’t lie. He played so he understands,” Walker said.
“Every coach that’s played this game, look how successful they are in the NFL? They get it, they knew how they felt when they played, so they don’t want to treat a player like that. That’s how Vrabel was. Vrabel was honest. Never lied to us. Just told us how it was to our faces. Yeah, sometimes it’s a hard sell and then we swallow because you swallow it, but most people swallow for the player. We know you got our back.”
Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel pats Delanie Walker on the head in the second quarter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sept. 29, 2019, in Atlanta. (George Walker IV/Tennessean.com, Nashville Tennessean via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
BILL BELICHICK’S HALL OF FAME SNUB IS “ASININ,” SAYS ROB GRONKOWSKI
During Super Bowl week, Walker’s former teammate, Taylor Lewan, echoed similar sentiments on the radio set.
“He’s in the Super Bowl. Yeah, the Titans made a massive mistake letting Mike Vrabel go a few years ago,” Lewan said. “You can see the reflection of what their record was when Mike Vrabel wasn’t there versus when he was there. And I’m sure there are a lot of Titans fans that wish he was still on the team.”
Walker even joked that Vrabel’s time with Tennessee was “the Patriots Way of the South.”
“That’s literally what it was. He literally brought the Patriots Way. We all used to say that,” Walker said with a laugh. “Can’t talk to the media without talking to the coach, can’t reveal injuries. I don’t have a problem with that. Sometimes you need that structure to hold guys accountable and that’s why we had success when he came.”
Lewan also mentioned the culture Vrabel brought, calling Vrabel a “lovable a–hole.”
“I thought he was an a–hole in 2018. A lovable a–hole, but he’s an a–hole. He was definitely very, very difficult for us in his first year in 2018. And then as his culture was implemented and he felt the leadership of the team take over, his culture, that’s what he led you to have a little bit more dominance.
“So, yeah, I think as far as preparation, getting guys to understand the game, game management, all those things, you probably won’t find another team in the NFL that’s more prepared in the small, minute details.”
However, despite Vrabel finding success in New England, Walker has high hopes for the new Titans with Cam Ward, new head coach Robert Saleh and new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll.
“I believe the Titans are getting back to where they used to be. This is the NFL. You have your ups and downs. Hopefully we bring in the right people to make our team good again. And at the end of the day, you have a lot of young talent that showed up,” he said.
“That’s something you want to feed off of next year and help those guys bring that energy to become the other freshmen.”
Tennessee Titans quarterback Cam Ward throws during the second half of a football game against the Indianapolis Colts Oct. 26, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
“Cam is a beast, man,” Walker added. “Some of the plays he made this year were unbelievable. To go out there and fight, even though we were in a slump, the team didn’t do well. I knew he wasn’t going to get the credit he deserved because Tennessee is a small market. We were already losing when he got there. It just doesn’t work.
“We had that focus on him the first few games, and when they started losing, nobody wanted to watch the Titans anymore. There he goes. You’ve never seen a first overall pick not get that much focus, and it was just because he was on the Titans.”
