Pats Pulpit
The two linebackers coaches will not be back with the Patriots in 2025.
A flurry of New England Patriots coaching moves was reported on Monday. Besides four new assistant coaches entering the fold, including former NFL head coach Doug Marrone, the departure of two members of the 2024 staff also became public.
Dont’a Hightower and Drew Wilkins, who coached New England’s inside and outside linebackers, respectively, under previous head coach Jerod Mayo will not be back under his successor, Mike Vrabel. What do their departures mean for the team, though? Let’s assess given the information available about the rebuilt coaching staff so far.
Trading Matthew Judon and losing Ja’Whaun Bentley and Oshane Ximines to season-ending injuries, all before the season was even a month old, certainly did not do the Patriots’ linebacker corps any favors. Even considering those circumstances, however, the drop-off for the group in 2024 was still significant — something that, at least to a degree, Mike Vrabel seems to blame on the coaching.
And why would he not, given that the NFL is a results business? Those results did not look good for Hightower, Wilkins and their units.
For starters, the Patriots were unable to replace those three players mentioned above, rotating through a number of career backups and castoffs while neither getting any consistent results out of them nor the returning veterans. Edge pressure was lacking, run fits looked suspect, and coverage was an issue throughout the season.
Meanwhile, veteran Jahlani Tavai had his worst season both on and off the field since joining the Patriots, while the likes of Joshua Uche and Sione Takitaki were virtual non-factors in their roles. Christian Elliss had some positive moments, but not enough to consider his season a success as well.
It is hard to quantify where exactly the line is between a player’s contributions and a coach’s, but from the outside looking in it appears the major problems were as follows: for Wilkins, it was not having established NFL quality to work with and failing to get Uche back on track; for Hightower, his lack of experience might have limited his impact in his first ever season as a coach.
Three members of the Patriots’ 2024 staff have been chosen to coach at the college all-star games, Wilkins among them. As was announced earlier this month, he is working as defensive coordinator at the East-West Shrine Bowl. Assistant offensive line coach Robert Kugler, meanwhile, is coaching the O-line in Frisco.
The Senior Bowl, on the other hand, will have offensive assistant Omar Young among its coaches; the 41-year-old is set to work with the running backs in Mobile this week.
While those assignments could have been indicative of their outlook — as was the case with Troy Brown at the Senior Bowl last year — it appears they are not. Wilkins is out, while the futures of Kugler and Young as members of the Patriots staff are...
