Hiring Terrell Williams as defensive coordinator suggests the New England Patriots are set for major changes on one side of the ball, and the ex-Detroit Lions defensive line coach could turn to one of his former players to help make those changes happen, free-agent defensive tackle Levi Onwuzurike.
The latter makes sense as a potential target after Williams’ arrival, according to Brian Hines of SB Nation’s Pats Pulpit. Hines noted how Onwuzurike enjoyed “a career year under Terrell Williams” in 2024: “Among all interior defenders last season his 47 pressures ranked T-14th and his 11.9% pass rush win rate was T-18th.”
This is a smart fit of team and player. Not least because defensive tackle is the one position most likely to change to suit the brand of defense Williams is expected to run, based on his time working for new Pats head coach Mike Vrabel with the Tennessee Titans.
Levi Onwuzurike Thrived for Terrell Williams
One reason the Patriots hired Williams was his exceptional track record developing interior D-linemen. He’s worked with some of the best, including Patriots Hall of Famer Richard Seymour, Super Bowl winner Ndamukong Suh and Titans All-Pro Jeffery Simmons, who played for both Williams and Vrabel in Tennessee.
Onwuzurike isn’t in the class of those players, but the 26-year-old is an ascending talent who’s played his best football for Williams. Improvements were obvious in both pass-rushing and run defense this season.
Superior technique enabled Onwuzurike (91) to use a swat and swim move to beat Los Angeles Rams guard Steve Avila (73) for a sack in Week 1.
Making smarter use of his hands, as well as being fully healthy after a lengthy back problem, helped Onwuzurike split gaps and move the pocket more often. Meanwhile, his core play strength meant the second-round pick in the 2021 NFL draft was also an asset against the run.
One of Onwuzurike’s best reps came against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and All-Pro offensive tackle Tristan Wirfs. The play, highlighted by Russell Brown of The Lions Wire, showed Onwuzurike taking Wirfs off-balance, before redirecting and shedding the block to complete a run stuff.
Plays like these show Onwuzurike’s comfort with Williams. Their rapport could provide the foundation for a dramatic scheme change up front in New England.
Patriots to Undergo Major Shift
Changes are afoot for the Patriots on defense. The differences are likely to be most obvious along the line, where the Pats will move away from three-man fronts and two-gap techniques.
Instead, Williams and Vrabel “predominantly ran fronts with four-down defensive linemen (4-2-5 nickel)” during their time with the Titans, according to Patriots.com Staff Writer Evan Lazar.
He also detailed how “the Titans primarily played with one-gapping mechanics against the run as an even front scheme. Tennessee’s early-down base front was an over front. On the interior, the D-Line has a three-technique (shaded over the guard in the B-Gap) and a nose tackle lined up in the opposite A-Gap (one-technique). The other constant for the Titans was playing with wide hand-in-the-dirt defensive ends, either in a nine or seven technique. With defenders playing a single gap vs. the run rather than two-gapping like New England has done historically, this is more of a penetrating defensive front rather than holding the point of attack.”
Lazar highlighted one example of the Titans using an overloaded four-man line with wide-aligned defensive ends against the Miami Dolphins in 2023.
The implications of these strategic shifts are significant for defensive tackles. Traditionally, the Patriots favored bigger, space-eating monsters under Vrabel’s predecessor Jerod Mayo and former head coach Bill Belichick.
A lineman like 330-pound run-stuffing nose tackle Davon Godchaux fit the bill for this brand of defense, but Williams and Vrabel will require something different. Namely, lighter and more active disruptors like 6-foot-3, 304-pounder Onwuzurike.
He’s projected by Pro Football Focus to earn a two-year contract worth $16.5 million annually and with $10 million of guaranteed money. That’s easily within the remit of a Patriots team with $125,784,793 worth of salary cap space, per Spotrac.com, and well worth paying for a natural scheme fit for Williams’ defense.
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