Patriots Reportedly Add Longtime Mike Vrabel Assistant Coach

The New England Patriots have reportedly added a new face to their coaching staff, but not a new face for head coach Mike Vrabel.

According to Chad Graff of The Athletic, the Patriots are hiring longtime NFL assistant coach Charles London to their 2026 staff. His official title wasn't made public, it's expected that London will be working on the offensive side of the ball.

Charles London Brings Wealth of Experience to Patriots

His experience in the NFL ranks is vast. London originally coached for the Chicago Bears for three seasons as a quality control assistant. He then had stops at various places (Tennessee Titans, Penn State, Houston Texans) as an assistant before returning to Chicago as the team's running backs coach. His stint with Houston was under then-head coach Bill O'Brien, who had left the Patriots' offensive coordinator role in 2011.

In 2021 and 2022, London took a job with the Atlanta Falcons as their quarterbacks coach -- a role he's consistently been in since. Ever since leaving the Falcons job in 2022, he's bounced around plenty of cities across the NFL, never sticking for longer than a season.

London re-joined the Titans in 2023 under Vrabel as the team's quarterbacks coach and pass game coordinator. After Vrabel was fired mid-season, London decided to pack it up and coach the Seattle Seahawks. He did that for one year before taking the job with the AFC East rival New York Jets.

That didn't go as planned, as the Jets constantly rotated quarterbacks, and after a 3-14 record, they parted ways with him in January.

Tennessee Titans Head Coach Mike Vrabel reacts to a Titans penalty against the Seattle Seahawks during their game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn., Sunday, Dec. 24, 2023. Vrabel was fired by owner Amy Adams Strunk Monday after having two losing seasons back-to-back. | Denny Simmons / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK

London might be new to this iteration of the Patriots. However, he isn't new to the organization in general. At the turn of the century, London was the director of stadium operations at Gillette Stadium for several years before he got into coaching.

"He was the director of stadium operations, which I believe is somebody who, for concerts as well as games, is talking to team security and making sure they've got all the checkpoints down, 'clear bags vs. opaque bags,' things of that nature," NBC Sports Boston's Phil Perry said last offseason.

"I can't pretend to know all the ins and outs of what a director of stadium operations does," Perry continues. "But he was doing that here in New England like 20 years ago and said, 'You know what? I'm gonna get into coaching.' He went to be a graduate assistant at Duke and has just worked his way up the ranks, and now he's in Seattle as the quarterbacks coach."

London also has experience as the Cleveland Browns' assistant stadium manager, as well as being an events manager for Disney's Wide World of Sports.

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