Mike Vrabel and Tom Brady sent the NFL rumor mill ablaze earlier this offseason when the Titans head coach was seen FaceTiming with the soon-to-be free agent quarterback as he and Julian Edelman were sitting courtside at a Syracuse basketball game. Given Brady's pending free agent status and Tennessee seeing fellow quarterback Ryan Tannehill also hitting the open market, minds went wild wondering if Vrabel was possibly positioning himself to land his former Patriots teammate at the start of the new league year.
In the immediate aftermath of their call, Vrabel kept things pretty diplomatic when asked about their conversation, pointing to their friendship that goes back to 2001. With a few months passing between that call and now, however, Vrabel finally indulged and said that the two called him after the Titans head coach sent them a playful insult upon seeing them on television.
"Well, I was at the combine and we have CBS on TV and we were watching the combine and watching the guys work out, and you have a million snacks back there so I was up and down like a highway," Vrabel told NBC Sports Boston's The Camera Guys. "I look up there and they were showing Tom and Julian, so I texted them real quick and I said, 'Hey, did you guys get highlights for the basketball game?' Because it looked like their hair was blonde.
"So then, of course, they immediately were mad so they wanted to yell at me because I texted them something funny. They FaceTime'd me and we're sitting there laughing and talking. Jules is sitting there yelling into the phone as loud as he possibly can. That is how it all went down, just like we would any other time. We were just laughing and joking."
Vrabel was known for busting chops during his days as a linebacker for the Patriots and it appears not much has changed in that regard, judging by the context of this FaceTime call between him, Brady, and Edelman.
Of course, Brady didn't end up signing with Tennessee as Vrabel and the Titans were able to re-sign Tannehill to a four-year extension. Meanwhile, Brady did end his two-decade tenure with the Patriots, electing to sign with the Buccaneers in free agency.
The two will see each other in a few months when the Brady's Bucs host the Titans in Week 3 of the preseason, which will unquestionably feature similar jabs all throughout the exhibition, typically a dress rehearsal for the regular season.