Mike Vrabel is bringing another one of his former linebackers to Foxborough.
The Patriots claimed Caleb Murphy off waivers from the Chargers on Monday afternoon. The 25-year-old linebacker came into the league as one of Vrabel’s Titans in 2023.
An undrafted free agent out of Division II Ferris State, Murphy was a wrecking ball in college. He set an NCAA single-season record with 25.5 sacks and also recorded 39 tackles for loss in 2022. The sack total is the most for a player at any level since the NCAA began tracking defensive stats.
The 6-foot-3, 254-pound linebacker appeared in three games for Vrabel as a rookie. Following Vrabel’s departure in 2024, Murphy split five games between the Titans and Chargers, and appeared in six games for Los Angeles this season before being waived.
A core special teamer for Jim Harbaugh, Murphy had also played 29.5% of the defensive snaps this season with the Chargers, recording 12 tackles, a quarterback hit and half a sack.
In New England, he’ll join former linebacker teammates Harold Landry and Jack Gibbens from that 2023 Titans team, as well as Robert Spillane, who’d played for Vrabel in Tennessee before that.
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