Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots will have to spend the foreseeable future without one of their most important defenders. Milton Williams, who is among the most disruptive interior linemen in football this season, suffered a reported high ankle sprain during last Thursday’s win over the New York Jets.
With Williams set to miss at least four games after being placed on injured reserve over the weekend, the Patriots need to find a way to replace him. How will they do so?
According to head coach Mike Vrabel, not by reinventing the wheel but rather by continuing to rely on the personnel they had been using already.
“The same guys that have been playing,” Vrabel said when asked on Monday about how he sees his team replacing Williams.
“Eric Gregory played in a game for the first time; I thought he battled and is continuing to improve in the show team stuff and practice. We’ll hopefully get Josh[ua Farmer] back. I would say that [Jeremiah] Pharms [Jr.] is doing a great job as well on the show team and is ready to go in there at any point. So, I think we’re OK there as far as the depth. We’ll just have to keep working, keep moving along.”
While Gregory, Farmer and practice squad option Pharms Jr. will help replace Williams, the main burden will fall on the new top three at the position: Christian Barmore, Khyiris Tonga and Cory Durden.
Usage-wise, Barmore might be the least impacted of the trio. A starter alongside Williams, he too has proven his disruptiveness and value to the Patriots’ defensive operation and while his snap count and usage might change slightly, he is likely to continue being employed in the established manner.
Tonga and Durden, meanwhile, are realistic candidates for an uptick in playing time. The former could increase his early-down work — potentially at the expense of his fullback snaps — while the latter has had flashes as an interior pass rusher.
“We won’t have Milt, so for the foreseeable future, he’ll work hard to get back,” Vrabel said. “That’s really where our focus is, it’s not so much as a reflection as it is just focusing on how do we get the guys ready to perform and continue to improve. The thing we’re trying to get everybody to understand is how much this is a progress league, and to be able to improve as the season goes on. And so, we’ll have to do that without Milt, who’s one of our contributors and is a big part of what we’ve done. But we’ll have to do it without him here for a few weeks.”
