Patriots Star Defender Added to Injury Report After Illness

FOXBOROUGH, MA. — As the New England Patriots march into a week six matchup with the New Orleans Saints, star defensive lineman Milton Williams is a late addition to the gameday injury list.

During the week leading up to the Patriots' electric victory over the Buffalo Bills, Williams was limited on Wednesday practice and had missed Thursday practice altogether, debuting on the week five injury report as questionable. Despite the injury concerns, he played against the Bills without a snap restriction.

This week, despite being a full practice participant throughout, he remains questionable with a new illness.

#Patriots add DT Milton Williams to the injury report. He’s questionable today with an illness.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 12, 2025

Despite the limited practice leading up to the showdown in Buffalo, Williams' snap count remained consistent, posting 40 total snaps (27 passing snaps and 13 running snaps).

Williams was a key piece of the 2024 Super Bowl-winning Philadelphia Eagles roster. In one of the better individual campaigns for an interior defensive lineman, Williams posted five sacks in the 2024 regular season and recorded two sacks, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery in the postseason.

As one of the premier pass-rushing three-techniques in football, Williams' ability to generate internal pressure is among the best in the league. With the Patriots having struggled with consistent pressure generation in 2024, they prioritized reconstructing their internal line through free agency, offering Williams a massive four-year $104 million contract.

In his first five games, Williams has already made an immediate impact. He already has a signature moment on film, with the game-sealing sack against the Miami Dolphins. Having already logged 2.5 sacks and 5 stuffs, he is well on pace to break his figures for both stats from his breakout year in 2024. Pro Football Focus ranks his current pass rushing grade at a 76.8, which is 14th of 111 interior defensive linemen. Though his run-stopping grade is fairly low (46.1, good for the 97th ranked interior lineman of 111), Williams' run-stopping ability has looked servicable on film.

The interior line combination of Williams and homegrown New England lineman Christian Barmore has begun to place itself among the better interior line tandems in the league.

Though Barmore has missed significant portions of the last two seasons with injury, his return to form alongside Williams has put together a duo that can consistently collapse the pocket.

Barmore, who PFF ranks as an 82.5 pass rushing grade (5th of 111) and 47.9 rushing grade (91st of 118), offers a similar skillset to Williams. This is where the beauty of the double-headed monster lies; with each player's notable threat as a pass rusher, they each also rank towards the top in double-team rates. Barmore is the third most double-teamed rusher, being doubled on 74.24% of his snaps; Williams is 38th at 64.44%.

Though signs point towards Williams being active in the week six matchup, it remains prudent to continue monitoring his snap count and ability to contribute to a pass rush critical to the team's success on Sundays.

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