On Tuesday, Patriots defensive coordinator Terrell Williams spoke with the media for the first time this training camp season.
And with two of the Patriots’ more veteran players on defense seeing action late into preseason action, it begs the question of whether or not Williams believes either player is a fit as he installs a new defense in his first year in New England.
“Kyle Dugger and Anfernee Jennings seem to be a little bit lower on the depth chart than we’re used to seeing,” said The Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed. “Do you see them as fits for this defense?”
“In my mind, there is no depth chart right now, we’re just playing guys,” said Williams. “I don’t know what they were before, or - we don’t really look at that. So they’re out there competing just like the rest of the guys.
“It doesn’t matter what your status was or what people think it should be, everybody’s out there competing, and those guys are doing a good job.”
“Do you think they’re fits in your defense?” Kyed followed up.
“Of course they’re fits,” said Williams. “I mean, they play hard. They play physical. So I mean, everybody’s competing for jobs right now.”
Despite both Jennings and Dugger getting new contracts heading into the 2024 season, both players had down years.
Dugger gutted through an ankle injury that eventually led to an offseason surgery, and his play suffered on the field because of it. And while Jennings had a career high in tackles (78) while starting in a career-high 16 games, he was a part of a front seven that ranked 23rd in the league - famously unable to stop not-so-vaunted running games like Jacksonville, Tennessee and Indianapolis in winnable games.
The difference between the preseasons we’ve seen from Dugger and Jennings is that Jennings looks overqualified to be on the field repping against 2s and 3s, as evidenced by his 3 sacks on Saturday in Minnesota. Dugger, on the other hand, looks slow to the ball, and made an inconsequential rookie mistake on the final play on Saturday by not going down in the end zone after an interception.
It didn’t impact the outcome of the game, but with the margin of error so thin for him right now with rookie safety Craig Woodson ascending the way he has this August, it’s those types of mistakes that will ultimately be the difference between being a real piece in New England’s defense this fall or becoming an overpaid depth piece.
Or, possibly, having to look elsewhere for employment.
But when Williams was asked specifically about his rotation at safety this preseason, he dug back in on Dugger being a fit at 1 Patriot Place.
“Again, everybody’s competing for a job right now,” said Williams. “And I think people gotta remember that. When we came in here, we told the players, ‘Everybody’s gonna have to compete for a job, and that includes the guys that have been starters in the past.’
“You don’t inherit positions just because you were there last year. So I think Kyle’s done a good job of competing, and all of those guys, [Jaylinn Hawkins] - I mean, all of them have done a good job. Craig as a rookie, those guys have been good. So they’re all competing for jobs right now.”
The Patriots will hold a walkthrough practice on Wednesday before traveling down to MetLife Stadium for their third and final preseason game of 2025, taking on the Giants at 7:00 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime.