Mike Vrabel Poaches the Lions: Terrell Williams is the Patriots New Defensive Coordinator

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Every Patriots fan has been waiting for the other shoe to drop after yesterday's news that Mike Vrabel hired Josh McDaniels to be Drake Maye's new Jedi Master. And while I'm a little sus about this latest report because it didn't come from the noted NFL Insider who gets every Patriots scoop:

… I'm nevertheless going to take a leap of faith, go against my better instincts, and trust that this not fake news:

Now, it would be disingenuous of me to sit here and insist Terrell Williams is the perfect man for the job, just the right hire at the right moment, that he's everything you want/everything you need/everything inside of you that you wish you be. Or even that I've heard of him before his name came up this week as a possible candidate for the Patriots' job. I mean, I have no doubt his name has come up during games while he's been with the Titans or Lions. But it didn't stick in my memory because my brain needs that room for storing Steely Dan lyrics, Naked Gun quotes and the names of Punic Wars generals. So for information on the man, I'll go right to the source:

Pride of Detroit - The New England Patriots are reportedly hiring Lions run game coordinator/defensive line coach Terrell Williams to be their new defensive coordinator. There, Williams will reunite recently-hired Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel. Williams and Vrabel coached together for six years with the Tennessee Titans—Vrabel as the head coach, Williams as the defensive line coach. In their final year together at Tennessee, Vrabel added “assistant head coach” to Williams’ title, so it’s no surprise Vrabel made a hard play to get Williams back. 

Williams’ time with the Lions ends after just a single season, but his impact was certainly made on Detroit’s defensive roster. He helped several young players along the defensive line, including Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Levi Onwuzurike, and rookie Mekhi Wingo. Wingo took to Twitter earlier on Tuesday to express his fear of losing Williams.

Williams was a well-respected coach by the Detroit Lions organization. He shared a history with Dan Campbell, with both having served on the Miami Dolphins’ coaching staff back in 2015. 

“I think he is the best d-line coach in the league,” Campbell said last year. “If he’s not, he’s certainly right up there.”

And how was William's one season in Detroit? For starters, the Lions gave up the seventh fewest points, were graded third in the NFL in tackling by Pro Football Focus, 10th in stopping the run, and fifth in overall defense. This despite the fact they got 4 1/2 games out of Hutchinson. How much of an impact a first year defensive line coach had on that, your guess is as good as mine. But if Wingo's reaction to him possibly leaving and Campbell's praise means anything - and I'm assuming they do - he sounds like an upgrade from a defense that went from seventh in yards allowed under Steve Belichick to 22nd under DeMarcus Covington. That went from leading the league with just 3.3 YPA to 16th with 4.4. 

Now, were I a cynical man, I would drill down on the fact that hiring assistant coaches from the best teams in football is exactly the sort of move loser franchises pulled on the Patriots for the better part of 20 years. They would try to gene splice DNA from New England's body with their own like a Marvel supervillain in a desperate attempt to become like the Patriots. That went on in the front office as well. Guys with diminutives in their job titles like "assistant," "position" and "associate" given promotions and more power in some lesser organization in hopes of transplanting the Pats' success. And rarely if ever did it work out. 

But I'm not a cynical man. At least I am no more. That cynicism that was born on St. Patrick's Day, 2020 is dead. It's time of death was the minute Vrabel was hired. And here he's not simply trying to join the Brain Drain going on with Campbell's staff. This is someone he obviously knows and trusts to turn this unit back around to where it was for pretty much the last decade until last year. Which is one of the best if not THE best in the NFL. 

Amateur Hour is over. In the last 24 hours the Patriots took two huge steps on the road back to dominance. Buy a shirt.