All About Patriots Coach Mike Vrabel's 2 Kids, Sons Tyler and Carter

Mike Vrabel’s children have followed in his athletic footsteps

NEED TO KNOW

• Mike Vrabel and his wife, Jen Vrabel, are parents to two kids, Tyler and Carter Vrabel
• Tyler was born in 2000 and got to celebrate his dad’s 2004 Super Bowl win with him
• Carter arrived in 2001, and he developed a passion for baseball later as a teenager

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel is a role model to both his players and his kids, sons Tyler and Carter Vrabel.

Mike played eight seasons with the Patriots as a linebacker from 2001 to 2008 and returned as the head coach in 2025, hoping to lead them to a Vince Lombardi Trophy. Now ahead of the 2026 Super Bowl, he’s poised to become the first person to take home rings as a player and a coach for the same team.

Off the field, his family has been by his side and supported him every step of his NFL journey. Mike married his wife, Jen Vrabel, in 1999, and they became parents for the first time when they welcomed their son, Tyler, in June 2000. Their family was completed in November 2001, with the birth of their younger son, Carter.

In a January 2018 press conference as head coach of the Tennessee Titans, a job he held from 2018 to 2023, Mike said that his boys have “been around the NFL locker room since they've been born,” and acknowledged that his career hasn’t always been “easy” for them.

However, in a June 2023 interview with the Atlanta Falcons, his son Tyler shared that his father went above and beyond to be there, no matter how busy he was.

“My dad was always there,” Tyler recalled. “Looking back, though, I honestly can't believe how much time he spent with us. … I just don't know how he managed to hang out with me and my brother and be at so many of our games and big events. He was an assistant baseball coach on my team one year. He always took time to make sure he was around whenever it was possible."

Here’s everything to know about New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel’s two kids, Tyler and Carter.

Tyler Vrabel, 25

Mike and Jen first became parents when they welcomed their son, Tyler Vrabel, on June 24, 2000, in Bellaire, Texas.

Tyler joined Mike on the field to celebrate the Patriots’ win against the Carolina Panthers at the 2004 Super Bowl. Though he was only 3 at the time, he still recalls the special moment.

"The one thing I do remember is that he was holding me and trying to get me to put the No. 1 with my hand," Tyler told the Falcons in June 2023. "I couldn't remember how to do it so he grabbed my hand and showed me how to hold it. I do remember that and other things like that. It's the weird small things that stick out in your mind."

The moment may have helped inspire Mike’s family-friendly coaching style.

“I want them to have their kids on the field when the confetti comes down,” he said at a press conference in February 2026. “I was lucky enough to have my oldest son on the podium after a game where I had success in the Super Bowl, and I want them to experience that.”

Tyler mostly grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where his dad was a coach at Ohio State from 2011 through 2013, before being moved to Houston when Mike took a job coaching for the Houston Texans. Unfortunately, Tyler struggled with the first new school he was enrolled in.

“It wasn’t the right school for him. That was my fault,” Mike told the Boston Herald in August 2019. “Then, by the grace of God, he ended up at St. Pius (in Houston), a co-ed Catholic high school, which was a much better fit for him.”

He went on to commit to Boston College in June 2017, where he received the Gridiron Club Football Scholarship. He was a communication major at the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences and played on the BC Eagles as an offensive tackle.

After college, Tyler played for two seasons with the Falcons as an offensive tackle before deciding to try his hand at coaching. Today, he is an assistant coach for the BC Eagles, with a focus on offense.

“At some point, his heart wasn't in it and he stepped away from football,” Mike told BC head coach Bill O'Brien on his podcast in June 2025.

“I had never heard him so happy and excited about being back around football [since he started coaching at Boston College],” Mike continued. “He's doing a good job. He coached in camp. He's there all the time. … He loves it.”

Tyler’s been open about relying on his dad for advice and support, regardless of his path in football or life.

"I would ask him how I should go about certain things and how to manage my time,” Tyler told the Falcons in June 2023. “He helped me get into a comfortable routine and establish what I needed to do to get myself ready.”

“It's crazy to think about how much he did while also being with the family,” he added. “As I've gotten older, I've grown to appreciate that more and more."

Carter Vrabel, 24

Carter Vrabel was born on Nov. 20, 2001, in Columbus, Ohio, a moment Mike wasn't able to be a part of.

“I'm not proud to say this, but I'm just going to tell you about my wife. She gave birth to Carter, I missed it, I was at practice, she was in Ohio,” he said at a January 2018 press conference as the Titans head coach.

Mike continued, “He came early, he flipped, they had to take her. I showed up four hours late because I was playing football and she was having a baby.”

Though he did his best to spend as much time as possible with his boys, Carter admitted it wasn’t always easy growing up with an NFL pro for a dad.

"During the season, it's hard,” he told the Vol State blog in January 2022. “When I was young, I would go to bed before he got home."

While his dad and brother share a love of football, Carter switched to baseball halfway through high school after playing as a quarterback on the football team, according to his bio.

Following high school, he attended Wabash Valley College in Illinois before transferring to Volunteer State Community College in Tennessee.

“It just wasn't my spot,” he told the Vol State blog. "I love it here at Vol State, school especially. I like the chemistry we have with the team. I like the teachers; it's more hands-on and in-person here."

He later transferred to Tennessee Tech University, where he majored in interdisciplinary studies and was named to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll.

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