Having both the resources and the need, the New England Patriots opened the checkbook to sign Milton Williams in free agency. It took a four-year, $104 million contract to convince Williams to join a Patriots defensive line unit that had underperformed in 2024.
With Williams in the fold heading into 2025, however, the Patriots are hoping for some improved production out of the group. The 26-year-old will have an active hand in that happening, as will two of the teammates he is, by his own admission, excited to share the field with: Christian Barmore and Keion White.
“I already told [White], like, ‘If we end up on the same side, and we’re just going to go rush, it’s going to get nasty,’” he said during a recent appearance on ex-Patriot Chris Long’s Green Light podcast. “It’s going to get nasty, for sure.”
Barmore being named a player Williams is excited to play with comes as no surprise. The fifth-year man was one of the most disruptive interior linemen in the game in 2023, before a blood clots diagnosis the following summer effectively robbed him of his 2024 campaign.
White, meanwhile, showed flashes as a rookie in 2023 before a surprisingly quiet 2024. However, Williams is a believer in his skills — skills that look quite familiar to him.
“I see a lot of myself in him,” he said about White. “Just how he carries himself, how he goes about his business. Similar body type — 6-4, 6-5, 280, 290. Fast strong, has everything in the toolbox to really line up wherever, having the versatility to play inside, outside. I pride myself on being able to do the same things.”
Before Williams and White can develop into a disruptive pairing, though, Williams and his new teammate will need to build some chemistry. Doing so will not happen overnight, though, as he pointed out.
Instead, he believes that training camp and the early parts of the regular season will be used for the Patriots’ defensive linemen to get a feel for one another. That feel, of course, was a key reason for Williams’ success as part of the Philadelphia Eagles’ defensive line.
A third-round draft pick in 2021, Williams spent the first four years of his career with the Eagles. Playing along one of the most talented defensive lines in the game, he was a key cog in a unit that utterly dominated the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX earlier this year.
A month after winning his first championship, Williams found himself on a team that had not won a playoff game in six seasons and went a combined 8-26 the last two years. Nonetheless, he is optimistic heading into this new venture.
“I’m definitely excited,” he said. “We just started our OTA program — just getting work in, getting around the guys, getting to know them. I’m already trying to pick Coach Vrabel’s brain. He came in our meeting, gave us some tips and pointers. It’s going to be fun.”
