“Yeah,” Vrabel responded on “The Greg Hill Show,” when asked if McDaniels was on his list of candidates. McDaniels has been connected to Vrabel since the beginning of the Patriots’ head coaching search. If he joins Vrabel’s staff, it would be his third stint with the team as an offensive coordinator.

During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, ESPN's NFL insider Adam Schefter discussed Vrabel's return to the franchise and indicated that executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf was going to report to Vrabel. In short, as Schefter put it, "Vrabes is the man," in New England, when McAfee asked about the front-office hierarchy.

Rees just finished his second season in the NFL. He joined the Browns last offseason as a pass game specialist and tight ends coach under new coordinator Ken Dorsey. That followed one year as the offensive coordinator at the University of Alabama and three seasons working in the same position at Notre Dame.