Coming off a very good regular season and a brilliant Super Bowl performance, former Eagles defensive tackle Milton Williams figured to cash in during free agency.
The emerging fifth-year star is the exact kind of player organizations want to pay at 25 coming off a rookie contract where he started as a situational player on Philadelphia’s defensive line before being handed a bigger role after Fletcher Cox’s retirement before the 2024 season.
The early rumblings on Williams focused on a $20 million average annual value, a number that was going to be too steep for an Eagles team that knows what’s coming with second-team All-Pro Jalen Carter at the same position after the 2025 campaign.
Williams was closing in on a deal with the Carolina Panthers that was well above the $20M mark until the New England Patriots decided to push a monster four-year, $104 million contract with $51M of that fully guaranteed to the middle of the table.
To date, that’s the largest deal ever handed out by the Pats.
Appearing on NFL Network’s “The Insiders,” Williams explained how things went down for him in free agency.
"My agent was on the phone, and I was kind of in the room," Williams explained. "They were on the phone talking to teams, and teams were coming in with new deals. There was a lot going on, and it happened really fast.
“They talked about Carolina then and I was like, 'alright, it sounds like the best offer we are going to get, so, we were going to go there.'”
It was close enough that some of the league’s insiders started to float Charlotte as Williams’ likely new home until the cash-flush Patriots came in with one final offer.
“New England hopped on and was like, 'Nah, this is what we got for you,'” Williams said.
The Panthers and the other Willaims’ suitors were told what the new bar was and begged off.
“Carolina felt like they went too high on their number, so, they stayed at where they were at,” said Willaims. “New England came in, and it was [over] after that. They wanted me the most and made me a priority.
“So, I made them a priority."
