FOXBOROUGH — The Patriots are going to ask quite a bit of Milton Williams this season.
Armed with a 4-year, $104 million deal, Williams isn’t just New England’s biggest free agent signing, but he’s now the highest-paid player in franchise history.
The 26-year-old defensive tackle has tried to plan accordingly. During his month off this summer, Williams did conventional defensive line drills and cardio, while supplementing that with boxing.
Williams first picked up the boxing gloves last offseason before helping punch Philadelphia’s ticket to Super Bowl LIX.
“It’s good for hand-eye coordination, but most importantly, it’s good for cardio,” Williams said. “The hardest part, I feel like, is keeping your hands up. Keeping your feet moving. Those three minute rounds, they get long. When you come out here (to training camp), in-between plays — unless they’re going (up) tempo — you probably get like 30 or 40 seconds. So you’re feeling good… it just helps you recover faster and allows you to have a bigger tank.”
Though boxing may seem an unconventional workout for a 290-pound defensive tackle, Williams found it very beneficial en route to career highs in sacks (5) and quarterback hits (10) last season.
“Definitely. Definitely,” Williams repeated. “Whenever I was on the field, I felt like I could play as hard as I can until I came out. Every time I’m on the field I tried to do that.”
The Patriots will be counting on Williams to do more of that in 2025.
He never played more than 50% of the defensive snaps during his first four seasons in Philadelphia, but given his contract, that workload is bound to increase under Mike Vrabel. The coach has been pleased with what he’s seen thus far, both on and off the field.
“Early on, that was something that was important to know: That he wanted to lead,” Vrabel said. “There has been zero pushback. He’s fun to coach. He’s very mature, and so there’s zero reservation about his leadership ability. He’s here a lot, he’s here all the time. He shows up early, gets plenty of work in, he takes care of his body. He’s a true pro.”
As for boxing, though Williams didn’t grow up a fan, he’ll certainly tip the cap to those competitors now.
“My respect level for them has gone way up because their training is crazy,” Williams said. “(I’m not even) doing a portion of what they really go through. So all boxers out there, they’ve got a ton of my respect for going through that, and shoot, putting their life on the line stepping in that ring.”
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