Vrabel brought with his long-time assistant to New England with him.
In his more than two decades as the New England Patriots’ research director, Ernie Adams reached a near-mythical status. He was the mystery man behind the scenes, the closest confidante to head coach Bill Belichick.
Adams’ contributions to the Patriots’ operation were, of course, far less secretive than oftentimes portrayed. Nonetheless, he still played a vital part as Belichick’s right-hand man and somebody involved in nearly every aspect of the team.
Will John Streicher, colloquially referred to by his nickname “Stretch,” be the same for new Patriots HC Mike Vrabel? Their history suggests as much, but Vrabel refrained from making the comparison to Adams during a sitdown with local media at the NFL Scouting Combine on Tuesday.
“We’re not big into comparisons,” Vrabel said. “Stretch, he’s probably got a little bit better sense of humor than Ernie Adams. I think what Ernie did was critical. Stretch is very unique, and he’s important to me. I value him extremely highly.”
Vrabel and Streicher first crossed paths at Ohio State in 2011. The former returned to his alma mater to start his coaching career, while the latter served as the school’s equipment manager and later a student assistant.
The pair reunited in 2018, when Vrabel was hired as the new head coach of the Tennessee Titans. He brought Streicher aboard to work as an assistant directly alongside him.
After two seasons in that role, Streicher was named the Titans’ football development coordinator; in 2023, he moved up to become director of football administration. While his titles were rather vague, he continued to work closely with his head coach — serving in an Ernie Adams-like capacity as his most trusted ally within the organization.
The two spent the 2024 season apart — Vrabel consulted in Cleveland after his firing in Tennessee, Streicher joined the Los Angeles Rams as a game management coordinator — before reuniting in New England earlier this offseason. Streicher was announced as the Patriots’ vice president of football operations and strategy earlier this month.
What this job will entail on a day-to-day basis remains to be seen. What is certain, however, is that Vrabel continues to think highly of his long-time companion.
“He’s meant a lot to me. He’s meant a lot to the success that we had in Tennessee,” he explained.
“His growth in this business of NFL football, the connections that he makes with our staff and the players; they know that he’s an extension of me and if they need — maybe they don’t have a strong enough connection with me to say something — they certainly will be able to find an avenue with Stretch, who’s a point of contact.”
He may not be Ernie Adams 2.0, but it is clear Streicher is to Vrabel what Adams was to Belichick: somebody who enjoys the head coach’s full trust and confidence.