As New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel prepares his team for a Super Bowl LX showdown against the Seattle Seahawks, the NFL made time to recognize his work. On February 5, the league announced at the NFL Honors in San Francisco that Vrabel has won the NFL’s Coach of the Year award. The news traveled fast, and Patriots legend Julian Edelman quickly jumped on social media to send a message to Vrabel.

In his recent Instagram story, Julian Edelman shared a post from NFL on FOX that crowned Mike Vrabel as COTY. The photo with the post placed Vrabel front and center, surrounded by game-day action shots and a gold “Coach of the Year” title next to a trophy.

“Now go get the next one,” Edelman wrote in the caption of his IG story. “Well earned, coach.”

The NFL legend’s message revealed his appreciation for Mike Vrabel’s latest achievement, but it also raised the bar for the HC. Edelman demanded that Vrabel should also chase the next trophy now. But Edelman didn’t stop there, as he also reacted to a separate IG post that announced that Patriots’ offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels won the Assistant Coach of the Year award. 

“Well deserved. One more Micky Ds. ❤️🙌🐐,” Edelman wrote in the caption of another IG story. 

Edelman’s message felt obvious – he expects both Patriots’ coaches to clinch one more trophy, which is most likely the Lombardi. And why not? After a rough 4-13 finish in the 2024 season, the Patriots flipped the script in 2025 under the leadership of Mike Vrabel and Josh McDaniels.

With McDaniels calling plays in 2025, the Patriots’ offense surged to rank second in points per game (28.8) and third in total yards per game (379.4). Patriots’ quarterback Drake Maye also threw for 4,394 yards, 31 touchdowns, and just eight interceptions. With Maye blossoming into an MVP-caliber QB, Mike Vrabel accelerated the rebuild in New England with steady leadership and strategic decisions.

The results followed quickly, a the Patriots went 14-3 in the 2025 regular season, captured the AFC East title, and locked up the No. 2 seed in the AFC. In the postseason, Vrabel’s team also beat the Los Angeles Chargers and Houston Texans before edging the Denver Broncos 10–7 in the AFC Championship Game. That win earned the Patriots the Lamar Hunt Trophy and a return to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2019, which further positioned Vrabel as one of the league’s top coaches this year.

What did Mike Vrabel say on receiving his latest NFL Honor?

The NFL Honors ceremony took place on February 5 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, just miles away from Levi’s Stadium, where Super Bowl LX is set to be played. Still, Mike Vrabel didn’t attend in person, choosing instead to stay locked in on preparation for the big game with his team. But Vrabel took some time to record a video with his award acceptance speech that aired during the broadcast.

“Ultimately, my name will go on this award, but this award belongs to a building, it belongs to a staff, and ultimately it belongs to the men in the locker room who believed when they couldn’t always see it, and bought in when it wasn’t always easy,” Mike Vrabel said in his acceptance speech.

Mike Vrabel’s speech matched his reputation of a team-first approach, even after earning 19 first-place votes to beat out other finalists for the AP Coach of the Year Award. The race for the award also included Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Liam Coen, who finished second with 16 votes. But this coaching success wasn’t new territory for Vrabel either. 

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Back in 2021, Mike Vrabel won his first AP Coach of the Year Award while he was the head coach of the Tennessee Titans. At that time, Vrabel was given the award after leading the Titans to a 12-5 regular season record and the No.1 seed in the AFC.

Now, as the Patriots’ HC, he has revived the team in just one season and earned another individual NFL honor along the way. With Super Bowl LX set for February 8, Vrabel also has a chance to make history by becoming the first person in the NFL to win a Super Bowl as both a player and a head coach for the same organization.