Sunday Patriots Notes: Improved defense trending toward breakthrough

Notes on the Patriots’ defense, interest from the CFL, and more.

The NFL is in its slowest period, but that does not mean there is nothing to talk about when it comes to the league and the New England Patriots. Granted, the exciting days of training camp are still a few weeks away, but the pro football world still does not keep spinning.

So, with that said, let’s clean out the notebook from the week that was. Welcome to the latest edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.

Defensive breakthrough

When forecasting what must go right for the New England Patriots to take a step forward as a team this season, much of the focus naturally shifts to the offensive side of the football.

Josh McDaniels is back on the sideline to coordinate the unit. One of the league’s worst offensive lines has been remodeled — highlighted by adding No. 4 overall pick Will Campbell at left tackle. Stefon Diggs headlines a new-look group of pass catchers. Then the most important: Drake Maye ready to take a step forward in Year 2.

But, it’s also important to not overlook the defensive side of the football.

While New England’s defense battled injuries last season, the unit fell off drastically ending the year ranked 30th in DVOA and 22nd in scoring defense (24.5 PPG). A turnaround on that side of the football will also be key toward getting back to the playoffs, and the first steps towards that goal came this offseason in free agency.

Entering free agency with a league-high amount of cap space, New England made key investment to add a quick influx of talent to their defense. That included cornerback Carlton Davis and linebacker Robert Spillane before landing perhaps the biggest fish in all of free agency in Milton Williams — signing the defensive tackle to a four-year, $104 million contract.

All three players are now projected to make key impacts along all three levels, and are not the only additions as well. It’s part of a makeover that led The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen to naming the Patriots’ defense a unit that could breakout in 2025.

“The Patriots just had one of their worst defensive seasons since at least 1999. The 2024 defense had the worst defensive expected points added per drive for the franchise since 1999, the furthest I can go back for EPA stats,” Nguyen wrote in 5 defenses primed to break out. “That’s bleak, but the Patriots defense could make a major bounce back this season thanks to major free-agent acquisitions, a new defensive coordinator, and more importantly, the return of defensive tackle Christian Barmore.”

Up front, Williams will join forces with a now healthy Barmore which could create one of the more disruptive interior duos in football. They’ll then be anchored by Keion White and fellow free agent additions Harold Landry and K’Lavon Chaisson along the edges.

As the cerebral Spillane will then hold down the second-level behind them, the addition of Davis to pair with All-Pro Christian Gonzalez also gives New England one of the top secondary duos in football.

“Hopefully we can just play cat coverage. Like, ‘You got that cat, I got this cat,’ and we can go to work,” Vrabel said back in March.

Throughout the spring, the new-look defense showed their promise with several disruptive days at all three levels. It’s the start of what Vrabel and defensive coordinator Terrell Williams hope is a complete defensive turnaround — something Nguyen can see on the forecast.

“With two excellent corners, a strong four-man rush, and two playmaking safeties (Jabrill Peppers and Kyle Dugger), the Patriots are well-built on every level. This could be the unit that makes the biggest jump this season,” Nguyen said.

CFL interest

For the first time in league history, the Canadian Football League required each team to release their Negotiation List; which the league defines as “up to 45 players who are currently either unsigned or are playing in the NFL, in another professional league, or in college. Teams hold exclusive CFL negotiating rights with players on their lists, and those players can be added, traded or removed at any time.”

Two current Patriots were included as wide receiver Efton Chism III and quarterback Ben Wooldridge were named to the BC Lions and Calgary Stampeders lists, respectively.

Chism, who was one of the spring standouts, and Wooldrigde will continue to make a push for a roster/practice squad spot in New England during training camp, with the CFL now a backup possibility.

Always competing

Several Patriots’ players have not been shy in sharing their work away from the facility over the last few weeks. That has included Christian Gonzalez and several DBs at the ‘Pro Retreat’ in Texas, and Keion White, Milton Williams, and other d-lineman at the ‘Sack Summit.’

Several other players like Kyle Williams, DeMario Douglas, Christian Barmore, Chism, and more have also shared their individual work online. Stefon Diggs even made sure his new Patriot helmet made it to vacation in France.

And while Drake Maye rightfully put the football away on his honeymoon in St. Lucia, the competition did not stop as Maye found a trio on his resort to play tennis with. “The most competitive person I know,” his wife, Ann-Michael Maye, captioned the video.

Episode Two

The Patriots provided their fans an exclusive behind-the-scenes look of the first stage of their offseason in epsiode one of the team-created “Forged in Foxborough” series. The team then announced this week that epsiode two will be released on July 18th, which is set to focus on New England’s first offseason program under Mike Vrabel.

Setting up the week ahead

Despite the calendar flipping from June to July and training camp being only four weeks away, there is not much going on in the NFL these days. As a natural consequence, our coverage here at Pats Pulpit will also be comparatively toned down.

Of course, the NFL is anything but predictable which means that news can always be right around the corner. So, make sure to tune back in to stay up to date, follow our Patriots player profile series, or join our weekly debates.