Mike Vrabel enters Year 2 with the Patriots in 2026 after a Super Bowl appearance, but Zak Kuhr’s climb has already put another staff opening on the board. Bradley Locker of PFF listed Kuhr as a possible head coaching candidate for 2027 after his work with the defense.
Zak Kuhr and the Patriots defense
Kuhr took over for an ill Terrell Williams during the 2025 season, then helped steer the Patriots defense into one of the best units in the league. Earlier this offseason, Williams was moved elsewhere on the staff and Kuhr received the job officially.
That sequence gives the Patriots a rare problem. The same assistant work that helped stabilize the defense has created outside interest, and Vrabel’s staff could again be asked to replace a coordinator sooner than planned.
Bradley Locker of PFF
Locker went a step farther than simply praising the season. He put Kuhr on the list of potential head coaching candidates for 2027, which makes the internal rise more than a one-year story.
For the Patriots, that changes the pressure point in Foxboro. A coach who stepped in midseason, earned the promotion, and helped produce a top defense is now the kind of name that can force a reset after only two seasons. Vrabel already has Josh McDaniels on the offensive side and has won Coach of the Year for the second time, but success on the sideline can also mean more staff churn.
That is the tradeoff now sitting in front of the Patriots. Whether Kuhr stays in place or moves into a 2027 head coaching conversation, his rise has turned one staff promotion into a possible early test of Vrabel’s long-term plan.
