New England Patriots - NESN.com
The Patriots have finished building the foundation of their coaching staff.
New England reportedly brought aboard offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and defensive coordinator Terrell Williams on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, joining them with head coach Mike Vrabel and incumbent special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer. Vrabel will have to continue adding around them over the coming days and weeks, but for now, we have a pretty decent idea of how the club will operate next season.
Williams’ addition to the staff particularly helps paint that picture, as it comes with a few obvious winners and losers:
Winners Keion White
White was one of the more outspoken players at One Patriots Place in 2024, outwardly campaigning for change to be made in and around the organization. Williams’ arrival brings exactly that and is particularly advantageous for someone with the 26-year-old’s skillset.
“All we really focus on is getting off the ball, striking blocks and the rest will take care of itself,” Lions defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson said of his former position coach’s ideologies back in August. “I feel like that mindset is very liberating for a lot of defensive linemen to not be so strict.”
White certainly will be in favor of a more free-flowing system and should be able to take full advantage.
Christian Barmore
Barmore’s situation is still on shaky ground, as we haven’t been given much of an update on his potential availability for next season. The Patriots undoubtedly would like to see him return in this new system, in particular, though, as it would allow him to show off his versatility.
Williams has helped several defensive tackles (Ndamukong Suh, Jeffrey Simmons, Alim McNeil and Levi Onwuzurike) turn in the best seasons of their careers, and Barmore has room to be next.
Levi Onwuzurike
Onwuzurike is hitting the open market after a breakout campaign in 2024, where his 47 pressures ranked No. 14 in the NFL. Why wouldn’t he want to join back up with Williams? New England has the money to make it happen.
Christian Gonzalez
Gonzalez is going to be good no matter who is calling the defensive signals, but things could get extremely fun under Williams.
The Detroit Lions ran more cover-one concepts than just about any team in the NFL in 2024, which allows for corners to play with outside leverage in man-to-man assignments. Gonzalez will love being able to match up with top receivers, while also having the freedom to get a bit more aggressive.
Drake Maye
Maye’s name might be a relatively surprising one to see on this list, but the fact of the matter is that he’ll benefit from playing with a defense that can turn the ball over. Williams wants his guys to get after it and worked on defensive units that ranked ahead of New England in five of the last six seasons in terms of takeaways.
Maye with a short field? That would be a nice change.
Losers
Kyle Dugger
Dugger likely will draw more coverage assignments in this...
