Vrabel on 'Solid' Footing With Players

On the Rich Eisen Show Thursday, Tennessee Titans head coach Mike Vrabel discussed football and the team’s offseason plans amidst a pandemic.

Vrabel also revealed that he is learning to speak the players’ language in his third year on the job. The 44-year-old has found that there are certain words – he used ‘solid’ as an example – for which his definition and that of his players differ.

“Solid is good,” Vrabel said. “It’s fair, above average. I ask guys on our team, like [linebacker] Jayon [Brown], he’s from California, and he will be like, ‘solid.’ I think solid means pretty good. I am like, ‘what does that mean, Jayon?’ and he will be like, ‘I am doing great. I am doing solid.’”

Vrabel continued, “That’s what I have learned in the last year. I am figuring things out here.”

And for the Titans, everything seems to be “solid” during difficult times.

For now, Vrabel’s coaching abilities have been restricted to zoom meetings. So far this offseason, he has only held meetings with rookies. Vrabel said that he and his staff have managed the virtual distraction well.

“We’ve handled the distraction of the virtual offseason program very well,” Vrabel said. “We’re finishing our third week. We haven’t done any meetings with our current veteran players, but I have done them with the rookies. It was really an idea of focusing on individual learning, allowing these guys to be in there for less than an hour and a half, to not wear them out, to get engaged. Our coaches are giving these guys the details they need to improve and install some of the stuff that was maybe a little different last year.”

Transitioning from college to the NFL can be difficult for rookies. While the beginning stages of the offseason have been virtual, the concept of it hasn’t changed for the Titans’ six draft picks and 13 undrafted free agents.

“They have different rules as far as how long we can meet with them, so we meet with them a little extra,” Vrabel said. “We have a rookie development program at 3:15 p.m. to help them transition to the NFL that we would normally do if they were in our building. So, I would say it’s been a really good rookie class from what I have been able to evaluate in the meetings. These guys seem to be pretty engaged.”