Vrabel Explains the Draft Night Scene at His Home
NASHVILLE – Boys will be boys. Even with – or perhaps because of – a national television audience.
Coach Mike Vrabel and the Tennessee Titans made headlines Tuesday with their selection of Georgia tackle Isaiah Wilson, one of this year’s biggest prospects, in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft.
It was a couple of teenagers in Vrabel’s home who stole the show.
When it came time for the Titans to make their choice, No. 29 overall, on the first day of the draft, which this year is being conducted virtually, cameras cut to the set up at Vrabel’s home. There, the coach sat at a table in front of a Titans banner. Simple enough.
Behind him stood his son, Carter, in his father’s Pro Bowl jersey from 2007 (the only one of Vrabel’s career) and a family friend, Jackson, in a blue and white costume that looked like something akin to Teletubbies. Then in the background sat his older son, Tyler, who looked as if he was seated on a toilet.
“I know that there are pictures going around and Tyler was not using the restroom,” Vrabel said. “Tyler was sitting on a barstool next to his mom and as fate would have it, it came across as probably something other than that. … Tyler wanted nothing to do with (being on TV).”
The exact opposite was true of Carter and his friend Jackson, who has lived with the Vrabel’s for a little more than a year. The pair wanted to be in the shot and wanted to be noticed.
The elder Vrabel said he had no idea where Carter got the Pro Bowl jersey, which he said had remained packed away through three moves.
He did know that Jackson’s outfit actually was inspired by The Freeze, who races spectators across the outfield between innings at Atlanta Braves games. The teenager had been enlisted to mimic The Freeze at his high school baseball games this spring before the spread of the coronavirus canceled the season. So, he finally found a way to put it use.
“It’s been a long quarantine over here, man,” Vrabel said. “We’ve got a bunch of 19 and 18-year-old kids and, you know, they’re stir crazy. And, again, they saw all the other kids as the draft wore on and they said, ‘Well, we’ll give our own little spin to it.’ And it was fun.”
