No. 2: The AFC South’s New Coaches
As mentioned earlier, the Titans fired head coach Mike Mularkey days after losing in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Colts fired head coach Chuck Pagano after years of failing to get over the hump with Andrew Luck and falling off a cliff without him.
Their replacements are certainly two guys to look out for.
Mike Vrabel took over for the Titans, and he served as the Texans’ defensive coordinator last season. This is especially juicy, since they plucked an assistant from a division rival. Vrabel won three Super Bowls as a linebacker for the New England Patriots and even caught a touchdown in two of the Super Bowls.
He should bring that same toughness and versatility to the Music City.
The new head honcho in Indianapolis will be Frank Reich. After the Josh McDaniels fiasco, the team was able to still get a former assistant with championship pedigree. Reich, like Vrabel, is a former player, and his claim to fame is leading the greatest comeback in NFL history as a backup quarterback to Jim Kelly for the Buffalo Bills, leading them from a 35-3 deficit to the Houston Oilers who, ironically, moved to Tennessee and became the Titans.
Reich’s other notch on his NFL belt came as he served as the offensive coordinator during the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl run. Now Reich didn’t call the plays, but he did help, along with Mike Groh, with the development of Eagles quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Nick Foles.
He and Luck should both benefit tremendously from each other.
