Patriots hire front office executive to partner with new head coach Mike Vrabel

The New England Patriots are making moves following the hiring of head coach Mike Vrabel.

According to Sports Illustrated Albert Breer, former Giants senior advisor Ryan Cowden, has accepted a position in the Patriots front office.

“He will have a big role…” Breer wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “The title will be akin to that of vice president of player personnel. He will be Eliot Wolf’s de facto number 2.”

Wolf currently serves as New England’s executive vice president of player personnel, a role he has held since the spring of 2024.

https://twitter.com/AlbertBreer/status/1878896409178771736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Cowden’s hiring reunites him with Vrabel. The two worked together with the Tennessee Titans from 2018-2022.

Cowden served as the Titans’ director of player personnel from 2016 to 2017 before being promoted to vice president of player personnel in 2018. When Tennessee fired general manager Jon Robinson in 2022, Cowden was promoted to interim general manager . He was later replaced by Ran Carthon in 2023 when they held the position permanently. Carthon worked with the New York Giants the past two seasons as an executive advisor to general manager Joe Schoen.

Vrabel was asked Monday about the possibility of the Patriots adding Cowden to the front office:

“Eliot (Wolf) and I will have conversations,” the head coach explained. “As far as the staff is concerned, nothing has been finalized. Nothing has been determined. As with any staff, there will be turnover. There will be new coaches and new faces, some with whom I ‘will have a story and others with which I won” t.”

Wolf was mentioned several times during Monday’s press conference, which gives the impression – at least for now – that he will remain on board and work with Cowden towards what Vrabel described as a “shared organizational vision”.