Mike Vrabel and Philip Rivers have been around long enough that they went from facing each other as players to now facing each other as coach and player. In fact, Vrabel remembers a time when he had some great trash talk for Rivers back when they were playing each other.
Vrabel is in his third season as the head coach of the Tennessee Titans. His Titans are facing Rivers’ Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night. Ahead of the game between the teams, Vrabel brought up some trash talk he had for Rivers when they were players.
Mike Vrabel as a player once told QB Philip Rivers in San Diego that “he isn’t Drew Brees, won’t be Drew Brees, and everyone knows it.” pic.twitter.com/U9Ih2Hd1np
— Dianna Russini (@diannaESPN) November 12, 2020
“I might have remembered a young Philip Rivers trying to replace Drew Brees. We were out in Qualcomm Stadium, and I told him to anyone within earshot that he would never be Drew Brees. That I knew it, and he knew it, and everybody else knew it,” Vrabel said in an interview with ESPN’s Dianna Russini.
“We laughed about it, and it looks like both of them had pretty good careers.”
Rivers began his career in 2004 with the San Diego Chargers. He backed up Brees the first two years before San Diego let Brees go as a free agent and moved on to Rivers. Both have gone on to enjoy Hall of Fame careers. But at that time, Vrabel couldn’t resist trying to get inside a young Rivers’ head about it.
Knowing Rivers, he probably had plenty of trash talk in response for Vrabel.
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