When Michael George “Mike” Vrabel made his foray into coaching professional football a dozen years ago, it was with the Houston Texans.

Four years after arriving on Kirby Drive, he earned a head coaching job with the AFC South rival, Tennessee Titans.

It was in Nashville, in the summer of 2018, that Vrabel ended up signing an undrafted tight end from Harvard named Anthony Firkser, a Jewish athlete from Manalapan Township, New Jersey.

“The entire first year, he called me ‘Harvard’ – I had to earn my respect,” said Firkser, who caught 111 passes for 1,196 yards and seven touchdowns in four seasons with Vrabel’s Titans, including 25 catches for 277 yards and two touchdowns against the Texans. (Tennessee won five of those eight meetings).

Firkser, who played for the Detroit Lions this past season and makes his offseason home in Nashville, was glad to see Vrabel make the Super Bowl as a head coach when the New England Patriots face the Seattle Seahawks at 5:30 p.m. Sunday in Santa Clara, Calif..

“I’m happy for him,” Firkser said. “I really enjoyed playing for him. Our team got close to the Super Bowl in Tennessee, but we could never quite get there. It was cool to see how much Vrabel changed the Patriots organization in a year. He’s a players’ coach. He knows what the guys go through. He’s a really smart football mind. Because of him, the team has a better understanding of what it takes to win, with discipline and intentionality.”

Firkser, who turns 31 on February 19, plans to watch the Super Bowl from his home in Nashville. Last February, Firkser was on the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice team and traveled to the Super Bowl in New Orleans. He’d played a few regular season games for the Chiefs earlier in the season and was the first Jewish tight end on a Super Bowl roster since Randy Grossman with the Pittsburgh Steelers (1979 season).

One of Firkser’s most memorable moments with Vrabel’s Titans was in the 2019 NFL Playoffs. He caught a touchdown pass in a 20-13 win over the Patriots, which turned out to be Tom Brady’s final game with the franchise. The following week, he caught a touchdown pass in an AFC Championship Game loss to the Chiefs.

In 2023, Firkser was in camp with the Patriots. He didn’t make the roster and later signed with the Lions, but he learned a thing or two from Bill Belichick in the coach’s final NFL season.

“There’s a lot of similarities between Belichick and Vrabel,” Firkser said. “It’s kind of interesting to see where Vrabel’s mindset came from and how he adapted that into his own personality and coaching style.”

Firkser caught 99 passes for 1,559 yards and four touchdowns from 2014-2016 at Harvard and led the Crimson to Ivy League Championships as a junior and senior. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Applied Mathematics.