On Friday, the Patriots held their first practice of rookie mini-camp inside the WIN Waste Field House at Gillette Stadium.
In his media availability before practice, head coach Mike Vrabel opened his press conference with an opening statement on defensive coordinator Terrell Williams.
“Terrell Williams won't be out there today,” said Vrabel. “Terrell's working through a medical condition. I've been in constant communication with him daily. [Inside linebackers coach] Zak Kuhr has been handling those responsibilities in Terrell's absence, but Terrell's eager to get back, and we're excited to get him back. He's still been in contact with the players through Zoom, with myself and the rest of the coaching staff.”
In a follow-up question wondering if this medical condition would threaten Williams’ ability to coach in 2025, Vrabel said he’d let the 50-year-old coordinator speak for himself, which he did on Zoom a little over an hour after practice concluded.
And while Williams told the media he would prefer not to get into specifics as to what he’s dealing with at this time, he made it clear that he’s still engaged in the day-to-day process of preparing and developing this defense for his first season in Foxborough.
“As you guys know from Mike’s press conference today, I had a health scare,” said Williams. “But I also wanna make it clear that I’m not - I’m away from the building, but I’m not away from the team. So I’m doing good, I’m not away from the football team. I came back home here to Detroit for spring break, and had a little medical scare. I mean, it wasn’t a little medical scare, it was a medical scare.
“I wanna thank the defensive staff, really all of them - all the defensive coaches, and the coaching staff in general. And Zak Kuhr’s done an unbelievable job while I’ve been away. And we’ve communicated daily on just the things that need to get done. And I’ve also been in communication with the players often. So it’s been good for me, but again - I’m not off the football team, I’m just working remotely right now. And hopefully I’ll be able to get back soon and just be in the building and be around everyone.”
Even though Williams did not reveal the specific ailment that has necessitated his need to “work remotely” from Michigan, he did talk about what he hopes sharing this scare with the public inspires others to do.
“You know, everybody’s different,” said Williams. “We all have different stress levels. You know, football is a job that obviously there’s some stress involved. But just eating right, working out, doing the things that - you know, if you’re supposed to take any kind of medications, then take it.
“And again, I think sometimes - like I told the players, we all think we’re invincible. We all think we’re gonna live forever. We all think that this can’t happen to us. And when I say ‘this,’ I mean anything - a car wreck, whatever. We think it can’t happen to us, but it can. And I think that a lot of times when there’s things that you can prevent and you don’t prevent them, well that’s just not being smart. And that’s what I’ve done over the last couple of years, even longer. I’ve ignored doctors, I’ve ignored everyone and just kind of lived my life, you know? And while it was fun, I realized that, ‘You know what? You gotta take care of yourself, man.’ And that’s what I’m doing. So, really, that’s what I hope that we can all gather.”
Turning 51 in June, this will be Williams’ first time wearing the headset as a defensive coordinator at any level. After spending nearly a decade and a half as a defensive assistant in the college ranks, Williams has been working in various defensive line coach positions at the professional level since 2012.
Here’s a look at Williams’ coaching resume:
1998: Fort Scott Community College Defensive Line Coach
1999-2001: North Carolina A&T Defensive Line Coach
2002-03: Youngstown State Defensive Line Coach
2004-05: Akron Defensive Line Coach
2006-09: Purdue Defensive Line Coach
2010-11: Texas A&M Defensive Line Coach
2012-14: Oakland Raiders Defensive Line Coach
2015-17: Miami Dolphins Defensive Line Coach
2018-22: Tennessee Titans Defensive Line Coach
2023: Titans Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Line Coach
2024: Detroit Lions Defensive Line Coach/Run Game Coordinator
2025: New England Patriots Defensive Coordinator
With Williams working 807 miles away from 1 Patriot Place, Kuhr is currently the in-person proxy for the defensive coordinator.
With that said, Vrabel made it clear that this has been a collaborative effort by the entire defensive coaching staff thus far.
“A lot of this stuff was planned out as far as just the installation and the things that we were going to do,” said Vrabel. “So from that sort of thing, we did all that as a staff.
“It just felt like Zak has great knowledge of what we've done here in the past with me, this system and with Terrell. All of our coaches over there - [Scott Booker] and [Justin Hamilton] - have been coordinating the secondary. Again, phase two of this offseason is about individual development. It's about skill development, working through individual drills and the things that we're going to do to develop them. Yeah, there's installation that goes on, but a lot of that is done in the position rooms. Then obviously, there's a defensive identity that we want to build, and all those coaches have taken a role and will continue to take a role in that identity.”
While neither Vrabel nor Williams put a specific timeline on Williams’ return, the defensive coordinator made it clear that he’s excited to eventually physically rejoin the team.
“My mind is clear,” said Williams. “I’m good. I’m moving around, I’m happy - you know, everything’s good. I’m just looking forward to getting back to Foxborough and seeing everybody in person.”
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