4 things to know about new Patriots defensive coordinator Terrell Williams
He and Mike Vrabel worked well in tandem in Tennessee.
The Patriots are hiring Terrell Williams as their defensive coordinator, the team announced Wednesday.
Williams will join offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and special teams coordinator Jeremy Springer on head coach Mike Vrabel’s staff. He worked with Vrabel for six years (2018-2023) with the Tennessee Titans, and was most recently a defensive line coach and run game coordinator for the Detroit Lions this past year.
He replaces DeMarcus Covington, who held the job for one year under former head coach Jerod Mayo.
Here are four things to know about Williams.
He’s coached premier talent.
Though Williams, 50, has never been a coordinator, he has 28 years of coaching experience.
After a strong career as a nose guard at East Carolina, he interned with the NFL in 1999. He coached at Fort Scott Community College, North Carolina A&T, Youngstown State, Akron, Purdue, and Texas A&M, then thrived as the Oakland Raiders’ defensive line coach from 2012-2014.
He joined the Miami Dolphins from there, where he worked with Ndamukong Suh and Cameron Wake. In 2016, Williams helped the Dolphins to their first playoff berth since 2008, a year in which both Wake and Suh earned Pro Bowl selections. Wake finished third in the AFC and tied for sixth in the NFL with 11.5 sacks.
Williams then helped develop Jeffery Simmons into a two-time All-Pro under Vrabel with the Titans.
“Wow! So happy for Big T man!” Simmons wrote on X, Wednesday morning. “You deserve it Coach! Congrats to you and your family!”
Under Williams’ tutelage, Titans defensive end Denico Autry became the franchise’s first player in more than 20 years to record eight-plus sacks in three straight seasons.
He and Vrabel worked well in tandem.
From 2018-23, Williams’s unit ranked fourth in the NFL with only 10,044 rushing yards allowed over that span.
In 2022, he helped the Titans finish first in the NFL in rushing defense allowed (76.9 yards per game), which was the second-lowest number in franchise history.
In the divisional round against Cincinnati that year, Tennessee tied the postseason single-game sack record with nine.
Tennessee posted a 54-45 record during Vrabel and Williams’ six years together and won two playoff games.
Dan Campbell thinks very highly of him.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell has made it clear how he feels about Williams.
“I think he’s the best D-Line coach in the league,” Campbell said during last year’s NFL combine. “If he’s not, he’s certainly right up there. I think he knows how to develop. He’s got experience in game-planning and he’s going to be beneficial for our guys up front.”
The Lions allowed the fifth-fewest rushing yards in the league this season (1,672), while the Patriots finished 23rd (2,233).
His son tragically passed away.
Williams and his wife Tifini’s son, Tyson, tragically died in 2012 at age 4 due to an undisclosed illness.
“We’re all deeply saddened by the passing of Tyson, and our deepest sympathies go out to Terrell and his entire family,” Raiders coach Dennis Allen said in a statement at the time.
Tyson Williams was born on Nov. 1, 2008 – the same day his father was on the sideline as Purdue’s defensive ends coach, when the Boilermakers snapped Michigan’s 33-year bowl appearance streak.
Tyson was reportedly in the hospital for more than a week before his passing.
“That was a tough time, but what it’s taught me is to be thankful and grateful for what you have,” Williams said years later, per writer Paul Kuharsky. “We had our son for four years, my wife and I, a short time. But you know what? Those were the best four years of our life.”
They have another son, Tahj.
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