When the Tennessee Titans made a coaching change after the 2023 season, the Detroit Lions moved pretty quickly to hire Terrell Williams as their new defensive line coach. Williams had history with head coach Dan Campbell on the Miami Dolphins' staff in 2015, the season Campbell finished as the Dolphins' interim head coach.
Williams is seen as one of the best defensive line coaches in the NFL, and that was shown this season when players like Myles Adams, Al-Quadin Muhammad and Pat O'Connor had to step into prominent roles on the Lions' defensive line.
On Monday, when speaking about finding the right fits if/when he has to replace Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, Campbell mentioned Williams.
"A guy like Terrell Williams, I’m fortunate that I believe he’s the best, but he’s also the right guy, they happened to go hand-in-hand", Campbell said.
Lions may lose Terrell Williams to a promotion under his former boss
Williams would be a natural internal candidate to replace Aaron Glenn as Lions' defensive coordinator when he gets a head coaching job, which seems very likely to happen this week now since the Lions season is over. That could happen, but Williams seems to have at least one other prominent option.
In his look at who might be the New England Patriots' coordinators under new head coach Mike Vrabel, ESPN's Mike Reiss tabbed Williams as the top candidate to be the defensive coordinator.
"Some around the NFL believe Williams, 50, would be Vrabel's ideal pick as defensive coordinator."
As Reiss noted, Williams spent six seasons under Vrabel with the Titans (2018-2023), adding assistant head coach to his title as defensive line coach in that final season. Reiss mentioned Vrabel not having a timeline to form a staff, since some of his targets were still in the playoffs. That obviously doesn't apply to Williams anymore.
"One such example (of a coach in the playoffs) is Detroit Lions defensive line coach/run-game coordinator Terrell Williams, who was one of Vrabel's most trusted assistants in his six-year tenure as Tennessee Titans head coach. Vrabel thought so highly of Williams that he added assistant head coach to his responsibilities in his final season."
Williams started his coaching career in 1998 at the collegiate level, and he has never been a defensive coordinator before. So it's unclear if he has the desire to be one. It may take a unique opportunity if he's going to take a defensive coordinator job, and that opportunity is out there to go work under Vrabel in New England.
Williams stands to be the hardest assistant coach the Lions would have to replace, at least this side of Johnson and Glenn-and maybe including the two coordinators.
Update, Jan. 21: Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports has reported the Patriots are targeting Williams to be their new defensive coordinator.
The Patriots are targeting #Lions defensive line coach Terrell Williams to be their new defensive coordinator under Mike Vrabel, sources tell @CBSSports/@247Sports.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) January 21, 2025
Before Detroit, Williams was Vrabel’s defensive line coach and assistant head coach with the #Titans.… pic.twitter.com/S4COXljc9R