3 external and 2 internal Belichick replacements Patriots fans would love, a few they'd hate

Love: Louis Riddick, external

This is a little bit of a wild card option, because Louis Riddick is normally brought up for vacant executive positions rather than head coaching. Riddick, who currently works as an on-air personality for ESPN. Before that, he worked for the Washington franchise as a pro scout and then moved up and out to work in similar roles with the Eagles.

Riddick has deep knowledge of the league from multiple different perspectives. He'd be a reasonable fit as a front-office head for any team interested in interviewing him for such a role, but he's done enough game coverage and analysis at ESPN -- in addition to his on-field experience -- to warrant the consideration for a head coaching role.

Riddick commands respect to be sure and is a strong and outspoken member of ESPN's analysis crew. It's impossible to know schematically how he'd fit into a head coaching role, but from the perspective of building and protecting culture, there's no reason to expect he wouldn't be a great fit.

Love: Mike Vrabel, external

Few members of the Patriots coaching staff have gone on to find as much success and respect in the head coaching ranks in recent years as Mike Vrabel. His last two seasons with the team weren't winning ones, but bear in mind the Titans offensive identity has not had a considerable amount of certainty in terms of roster construction the last few years.

Just this last year, whether or not Ryan Tannehill was the guy or if it was Will Levis time was a week-by-week question.

Furthermore, Vrabel's send-off in Tennessee feels more like a mix of circumstances that make a change to a new era timely than an indictment of his leadership in particular. Derrick Henry seems likely to go elsewhere. Will Levis probably gets the nod next year. It's as good a time as ever to go with a new head coach.

Before the last two years, Vrabel led the Titans to four straight winning seasons to start his head coaching career, even getting as far as the Conference Championship in 2019.