The New England Patriots have found their next defensive coordinator, and the choice is not necessarily a surprising one. Terrell Williams, who spent six years with Mike Vrabel in Tennessee, will reunite with his former head coach in Foxboro.
Williams started his career at the coaching level and also spent time in Oakland and Miami before coaching the Titans defensive line under Vrabel between 2018 and 2023. In 2024, he joined the Detroit Lions as their D-line coach and run game coordinator.
Now, he is getting his first ever opportunity to coordinate a full defense. Let’s analyze the move from a big picture perspective.
Violence increasing
What Williams’ defense will look like in 2025 remains to be seen, but the coordinator has a clear vision for the type of player he is looking for. Speaking with the Detroit media after his arrival as defensive line coach last offseason, he explained that he wants his defenders to be violent.
“I’m not going give you a dissertation about, ‘Hey, we have to do this…’ You have to play violent, and you have to play with effort,” Williams said.
“The violent element of it, that’s a big part of playing that position. You want guys that accept that. You have to accept that’s just what that position is. It’s a violent, high-collision position, and you’ve got to play with effort. And if you can’t do that, you’re going to have a hard time playing. I haven’t seen very many high-level starters that aren’t violent players. That just doesn’t work, it doesn’t go hand-in-hand.”
Williams mentioned players such as Jeffery Simmons, Ndamukong Suh and Richard Seymour — who he all coached at various stages in his career — as examples of what he wants. This mindset moving with him to New England would not be a surprise.
“I don’t know any other way to explain it other than we’re looking for violent players,” he said. “That’s just what it has to be.”
Leaving the Belichick tree
Even though Mike Vrabel spent eight years under Bill Belichick, his defensive coordinator will have no ties to the long-time Patriots head coach. This means that for the first time in a quarter century, the unit is set to look different from a coaching setup: after being led by Belichick and his assistants through 2024 — Jerod Mayo opted to stay in-house by promoting DeMarcus Covington last year — change is on the horizon.
What that change will look like remains to be seen, though. But after briefly departing the Belichick tree on offense last year, the Patriots will do the same on defense in 2025; the hope is that this one will yield better results.
More roles than one?
Mike Vrabel thinking highly of Terrell Williams is nothing new. Not only did he hire him to the Titans in the first place in 2018, he later also promoted him to assistant head coach for the 2023 season. Could a similar title be in the cards in New England as well?
If so, it would mark a first in more than a decade. The last person to be named assistant head coach for the Patriots was Dante Scarnecchia, who held that role under Bill Belichick from 2000 until his first retirement during the 2014 offseason.
Familiarity a factor
What has become clear through the early moves made by the Patriots since hiring Mike Vrabel as their head coach is that familiarity with him is a big factor in the hiring process. Williams has plenty of it from their time together in Nashville, and he is not the only person on staff with close ties to the new HC.
Both offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and running backs coach Tony Dews have worked with Vrabel before — albeit in different constellations — as has front office addition Ryan Cowden. Frank Piraino and John Streicher, who are also expected to join the staff in some capacity, have a history with him as well.
The Patriots are still early in building their staff for 2025, but it will likely and unsurprisingly have a strong Tennessee flavor.
Assistant coaches in focus
The Patriots have their defensive coordinator, now it’s about finding his assistants. As of Wednesday morning, no official departures from the 2024 staff have happened, meaning the group still looks like this on paper:
- Defensive line: Jerry Montgomery
- Outside linebackers: Drew Wilkins
- Inside linebackers: Dont’a Hightower
- Cornerbacks: Mike Pellegrino
- Safeties: Brian Belichick
- Coaching assistants: Vinny DePalma, Jamael Lett
- TBD: DeMarcus Covington
It goes without saying that this is not what the Patriots’ defensive coaching staff will look like in 2025. For starters, ex-coordinator DeMarcus Covington seems like a realistic candidate to move on; he already took an interview for the Cincinnati Bengals’ vacant coordinator position earlier this month.
The other coaches listed here also appear to be in limbo, even though a full house cleaning might not be in order either. Keeping the likes of Mike Pellegrino and Brian Belichick, for example, would make sense to give the defensive line-minded Williams effective and experienced assistance in the secondary.
Meanwhile, some outside additions could be on deck as well. Names to watch are Titans assistant defensive line coach and pass rush specialist Clinton McMillan, Lions assistant D-line coach Cameron Davis, and New York Giants defensive assistant Zak Kuhr, and Giants outside linebackers coach Ryan Crow.
All coordinators on deck
With Williams in the fold, the Patriots have all three of their coordinator spots filled. While he will coach the defense, Josh McDaniels is back for a third stint as offensive coordinator. On special teams, Jeremy Springer has been retained after his units showed some promise in his first year at the job.
The Patriots officially announced all three as their coordinators for the 2025 season on Wednesday.
