Terrell Williams is feeling great and ready to see the Patriots' defense get violent

CBS News

a day ago

For Terrell Williams, it's been a interesting first few months as the new defensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. But after spending time away from the team due to a health scare, Williams is locked in and ready for the Patriots' defense to rattle some cages in 2025.
"I'm ready to go. That's why I'm here. Camp has been good. I feel great," Williams said ahead of Tuesday's practice in Foxboro. "It's football and it's normal to me. I'm happy to be back. I'm happy to be around these players and I'm happy to be here in New England."
Mike Vrabel reunited with Williams, whom he had a lengthy history with in Tennessee, this offseason when he hired the 51-year-old for his first defensive coordinator job. But a serious health issue popped up in the spring, which required Williams to leave New England and spent time at home in Michigan. He had to meet with Patriots players over video conferences throughout the offseason programs.
Williams was back for the start of training camp, but recently had another scare when he had to be treated for dehydration during a practice in Foxboro. But in his first press conference of the summer after Tuesday's practice, Williams said he's feeling great and is ready for the regular season. He said his medical issue is in the past, and the dehydration issue was a good learning experience.
"I don't want to get into that right now. It's really irrelevant. I'm not dealing with that anymore, so we've kind of moved on," Williams said of his medical issue. "I know people were worried about what happened on the field, and really, I was dehydrated. That could happen to you, so drink water. That's what you learn from that. But I feel great."
Williams will be calling the defensive plays for the Patriots this season, but will not be doing so from the sidelines. He'll set up shop "upstairs" in the coach's box, but feels good about the change.
"I've been down on the field as an assistant pretty much all of my career. But you see if from a different perspective up top," explained Williams. "I feel pretty good about being up there and seeing everything."
And through two preseason games and a summer's worth of practices, Williams is feeling pretty good about what he's seen from the Patriots' defense as well.
While a lot of the focus in training camp has been on Drake Maye and the New England offense, the revamped Patriots' defense is expected to be a potential Top 10 unit in the NFL. Vrabel and Williams want to put lots of pressure on opposing offenses up front, and bring a lot of speed to the football elsewhere on the field.
"It's been great. I'm not just saying that because I'm calling the plays. It's been really good," Williams said of New England's defense thus far. "We know what we want on defense. I know what Vrabes wants, I know what I want, and we all know what we want it to look like on defense. It's only the preseason, but I think the guys are doing a good job responding to what we're asking them to do.
"They're willing to learn and willing to take coaching. That's been good, and they've gotten better since the start of camp to where we are now," Williams added. "We have to start stacking days. It's been a little inconsistent at times, but I told them we have to start stacking days because we're getting close to the season."
Williams wants to see his defense bring "violence" to the field. While it's not easy to do that in training camp, Williams thinks the defense's violent ways will really show in the regular season.
"You can see it. When we have pads on, you can see guys playing with good pad level and using their hands at all levels. Linebackers are doing a great job being physical, coming down and hitting offensive linemen and running backs. The defensive backs are doing good job, so you can see it," he said. "But there is a difference between training camp and playing in preseason games and the regular season. So we'll see what it looks like in September."
The Patriots want to be much better at getting after the quarterback, after the team finished last in the NFL with only 28 sacks last season. The pass rush hasn't gotten going much this summer, but Williams sounds optimistic the defense will be making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks this season.
"My expectation is we're going to find ways to get to the quarterback. You can do it by scheme and you can do it by player; we just have to figure out what is going to work for us," he said. "The pass rush changes every week depending on who you're going against. We'll find ways to get to the quarterback. We'll be OK."