Milton Williams will be the centerpiece of the Patriots’ new-look defense

Milton Williams’ huge NFL free agency bag from Patriots can reshape their defense

“I like to shop like everybody else,” New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said about his team’s approach to free agency at the NFL scouting combine in late February.

“And so when you go and there’s only one of a certain car, maybe you have to pay a little bit more for that one car, because there’s only one of them. When you start to get into a range where you feel like there’s an area where players are comparable, and you like three or four players in a certain area for a certain role, you may not have to overspend, but it’s free agency. I think that everybody overspends in free agency sometimes.”

Vrabel also said that the Patriots would be aggressive, and that’s played out so far – certainly on the defensive side of the ball. It didn’t take long for the deals to come down. The Pats signed former Detroit Lions cornerback Carlton Davis to a three-year, $60 million deal with $34.5 million guaranteed, they signed former Tennessee Titans edge-rusher Harold Landry to a three-year, $43.5 million deal with $26 million guaranteed, and they signed former Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane to a three-year, $33 million deal with $20.6 million guaranteed.

And then, New England took the biggest and best defensive free agent off the market in the person of ex-Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Milton Willams in a deal that will reportedly average $26 million per year. Purely on an annual basis, that would make Williams the NFL’s third-richest interior defensive lineman behind Chris Jones of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Christian Wilkins of the Raiders.

If you’re not familiar with Williams’ work, this may seem like an overpay, as Vrabel intimated his team may have to do. But Williams’ tape screams otherwise.

Back in 2022, Vic Fangio worked as a consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles between his stints as the head coach of the Denver Broncos (2019-2021) and as the defensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins (2023). Of course, Fangio became the Eagles’ defensive coordinator in 2024, and it was his amazing game plans that gave Philly the NFL’s best defense, and blew the Kansas City Chiefs apart in Super Bowl LIX.

But back in 2022, there was one defensive player who left a major impression on Fangio: Milton Williams. That happened to the point where when Fangio moved to Miami, he tried to trade for Williams, and he was rebuffed.

“Yeah, I like Milt. Milt is a good player,” Fangio said last August, just before that runaway Super Bowl season took place. “He’s solid, both versus the run and in pass rush. He’s a guy that from afar I’ve liked that the Eagles have had. In fact, I tried to get us to trade for him last year in Miami, but [executive vice president/general manager] Howie [Roseman] wouldn’t do it. But I like Milt. Milt is a pro.”

It all turned out for the best in the end. Because Williams, who the Eagles selected in the third round of the 2021 draft out of Louisiana Tech, became a star in 2024 under Fangio’s auspices. He was one of several defensive players who had career years with Uncle Vic, through various half-smart tape nerds had been all over Williams’ potential from the beginning.

While Williams was a solid player for the Eagles in his first three seasons, 2024 was indeed the breakout campaign. In 653 overall snaps and 418 pass-rush snaps, he totaled eight sacks, seven quarterback hits, 39 quarterback hurries, 16 solo tackles, 17 stops, nine tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles. Williams did this playing defensive tackle 90% of the time, nose tackle 2%, and on the edge the rest of the time. In that regard, he does fit the NFL’s current requirements for gap versatility. Williams rotated a lot in Fangio’s system because that’s how Vic does it, and the Eagles had more than enough answers on the edge, but in another system where he might be a 70/30 tackle/edge hybrid guy, I think he’d be just fine.

As a three-tech tackle, Williams can get to the quarterback or running back in all kinds of evil ways. But let’s start with how he was deployed as a supposed 4i linemen to the offensive tackle’s inside shoulder. One might expect Williams to take on the offensive tackle there, but the Eagles would then have him laterally push to the offensive guard.

This did not work well for the offensive guard.

As a pure 3-tech tackle, where most tackles get most of their sack and pressure numbers, Williams is a major problem for opponents. He can shock guards with straight bull-rushes as well as he can jump a gap or to in order to send protection schemes into total confusion.

The Eagles famously didn’t blitz the Chiefs once in Super Bowl LIX, which allowed them to send seven defenders into coverage over and over. That was as much a problem for Patrick Mahomes as the pressure was. But Philly did stunt their linemen 11 times, and that was a serious component of the pressure they were able to generate. Given Williams’ athletic attributes, it should come as no surprise that he’s outstanding when it comes to stunts and games. Anyone in Kansas City would certainly attest to that.

Regarding Williams’ run defense? It’s not an alpha strength to this point in his career, but that’s primarily because the Eagles had him going hell-bent after the quarterback most of the time. It’s not always easy to reset in a split second when the run is going away from you. But there are more than enough plays to indicate the potential for improvement.

There’s also the matter of the quick pressures the NFL’s best interior defensive linemen are able to generate. With the league’s increasing emphasis on RPOs and first-read passes out of zero- to three-step drops, your inside guys need to get to the quarterback quickly – it’s one reason the inside guys are getting paid more and more.

No matter where Williams was lined up (everywhere from 1-tech to the center’s outside shoulder to 4-tech straight over the offensive tackle), he was outstanding in this regard. Per Sports Info Solutions, Williams generated two sacks and 21 total pressures against zero- to three-step drops on just 190 true pass rushes. That was the seventh-most pressures in the NFL among interior defensive linemen against quick passes, and the guys ahead of Williams on the list all had more pass-rushing reps – including teammate Jalen Carter, who had two sacks and 28 pressures on 319 rushes against quick passes.

Since we brought up Carter, there’s the alleged elephant in the room: Milton Williams could only do what he did because Carter was an absolute alien next to him, and without Carter, he’s going to be ordinary. And the Patriots should have been cautious of the Carter Effect on Williams’ play when deciding whether to make him one of the league’s highest-paid players at his position(s).

It’s a neat little theory. Too bad the tape doesn’t back it up at all. With Carter off the field, Williams was the primary focus of opposing offensive lines, and that didn’t go so well for them, either.

For all the reasons above, Milton Williams is now one of the NFL’s highest-paid interior disruptors, and he’s earned every bit of it. Now, the Patriots will benefit from his skill set. And when you imagine a New England front four consisting of Williams, Landry, Christian Barmore, and Keion White as the primary instigators, it’s fair to say that opposing quarterbacks and ballcarriers won’t appreciate it one little bit.