Mike Vrabel talked quite a bit after he was hired about not only developing players, but also developing coaches given the road he took himself along the way before becoming a head coach.
It sounds like he intends to do just that with recently hired New England Patriots defensive coordinator Terrell Williams.
Williams, who was hired as the team’s defensive coordinator last week, previously served as the Lions’ defensive line coach last year and coached at the position with Vrabel when the two were previously together in Tennessee.
This will be Williams’ first season as the team’s top coach on defense, and it sounds like Vrabel plans on easing him into it.
According to Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard, the plan may be for Vrabel to handle running the duties in the early going until Williams gets settled in.
“Vrabel is getting his people on defense, and the rumor down here is that Vrabel’s going to call defensive plays, at least to start,” said Bedard, who appeared on Felger & Massarroti on Tuesday while covering practice at the Senior Bowl.
Bedard said this was something he had heard while he was down there and talking to league executives, but added, “Again, I don’t know if that’s true.”
Both Vrabel and Williams have a solid relationship and it’s possible Vrabel is taking a page out of the Bill Belichick playbook by shouldering the focus to himself to start the year, rather than on Williams should things not go their way in the early going.
But should that be the approach, it’s a stark contrast to what we saw last year where Jerod Mayo stood back and pointed fingers when things didn’t go well, rather than shielding his guys from that blame.
The good news is that this is already a significantly more experienced coaching staff than we saw in 2024. Following the hirings, the vibe is quite a change to where it was at the end of the season, which is a big positive for a fan base that is hoping for something better after two straight 4-13 finishes.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
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