Sean McDermott Firing Means Patriots Have Division’s Longest-Tenured HC

The Buffalo Bills hit the reset button on their staff, firing longtime head coach Sean McDermott just two days after their Divisional Round exit at the hands of the Denver Broncos.

With McDermott out, New England Patriots lead man Mike Vrabel is now shockingly the longest-tenured head coach in the AFC East, despite only being at the helm of the Pats for one season that isn't even over yet. The coaching carousel is officially spinning, and the division just got flipped on its head

Patriots’ Mike Vrabel Outlasts the Coaching Chaos

Mike Vrabel was hired on Jan. 12, 2025, barely a year ago. And somehow, in true NFL chaos fashion, he’s already the elder statesman of the AFC East sidelines. ESPN analyst Field Yates took to X to share the interesting fact.

Mike Vrabel was hired 372 days ago and is now technically the longest-tenured coach in the AFC East.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 19, 2026

The Miami Dolphins cut ties with Mike McDaniel on Jan. 8, while the New York Jets brought in Aaron Glenn just 10 days after Vrabel rejoined New England. McDermott and McDaniel are just two names on a growing list as the league’s coaching carousel keeps spinning at full speed.

The AFC East isn't the only division to experience a major shakeup. The AFC North experienced something similar when Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers stepped down after the Cleveland Browns let go of Kevin Stefanski and the Baltimore Ravens fired John Harbaugh.

In total, nine NFL teams have parted ways with their head coaches so far this season, with Harbaugh and Stefanski already finding new jobs with the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons, respectively. Meanwhile, the New England Patriots are busy authoring one of the wildest turnarounds in recent NFL memory, setting up a heavyweight AFC Championship showdown with the Denver Broncos.

Under Vrabel, the Pats didn’t just improve, they flipped the script entirely. After back-to-back 4–13 seasons, New England stormed to a 14–3 record, locked up the AFC East, and snapped a playoff win drought that dated back to 2019. And they did it without a single first-team All-Pro on the roster. Pure lunch-pail football.

Owner Robert Kraft summed it up perfectly on Sunday NFL Countdown ahead of the Divisional Round. He praised Vrabel for transforming the locker room culture, getting players to buy in and putting the logo before the stat sheet. In a league full of egos, that’s elite coaching.

“Think what our record was last year, and it’s reversed this year,” Kraft said (via New England Sports Network). “He has grown and matured in a way — he always had that hard side to him, which made him such a great player. But he’s been amazing with the culture in the locker room, how he has been able to connect.”

The impact is obvious. This Patriots team plays connected, unselfish and fearless: a group that believes every game is winnable. Now, with a seventh Lombardi Trophy in sight, only Denver and the altitude at Mile High stand between Vrabel’s redemption tour and a Super Bowl berth.

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