Player
Milton Williams
DT · Patriots
Milton Williams: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
Career arc: a 4-year rotational role in Philly built quietly toward one career-defining playoff run.
TrendMilton Williams regular-season production by year
| Year | G | Sacks | TFLs | QB Hits | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 (PHI) | 16 | 2.0 | 6 | 6 | 0 |
| 2022 (PHI) | 15 | 4.0 | 9 | 6 | 0 |
| 2023 (PHI) | 14 | 0.5 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| 2024 (PHI) | 16 | 5.0 | 7 | 10 | 1 |
| 2025 (NE) | 11 | 3.5 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
Sacks by season
| Season | Sacks |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 2 |
| 2022 | 4 |
| 2023 | 0.5 |
| 2024 | 5 |
| 2025 | 3.5 |
For four years in Philadelphia, Williams was the fourth or fifth defensive lineman on the depth chart — a rotational interior pass rusher behind Cox, Hargrave, and Davis. His sack totals matched that role: 2 → 4 → 0.5 → 5, never the headliner.
But the QB-hit count trended steadily upward: 6 → 6 → 7 → 10. 2024’s 10 QB hits were the most of his Eagles career — and timed perfectly for a contract year and a Super Bowl run.
PHI (4 years) vs NE (11 games): sacks per game jumped 68% after the move.
SplitWilliams — Eagles vs Patriots eras (regular season)
| Era | Games | Sacks | Sacks/Game | QB Hits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PHI (2021–2024) | 61 | 11.5 | 0.19 | 29 |
| NE (2025) | 11 | 3.5 | 0.32 | 8 |
In Philadelphia, sharing snaps with one of the deepest DL rooms in football, he averaged 0.19 sacks per game. In New England — finally a full-time starter on a $26M-AAV deal — that rate has jumped to 0.32 sacks per game, a 68% increase.
QB hits track the same pattern: 29 in 61 PHI games (0.48/game) → 8 in 11 NE games (0.73/game). The Patriots paid for a starter, and they’ve gotten starter usage out of him from snap one.
Super Bowl LIX: 2 sacks of Patrick Mahomes — and a forced fumble.
MilestoneWilliams — Super Bowl LIX (vs KC) box
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Sacks | 2.0 |
| QB Hits | 1 |
| TFLs | 2 |
| Forced Fumbles | 1 |
| Solo Tackles | 3 |
Two clean sacks of Patrick Mahomes — one of them stripping the ball — in Super Bowl LIX. The first came at the KC 24 for a 7-yard loss; the second pinned Mahomes at the KC 20 for a 10-yard loss with a forced fumble.
For a player who entered the night with 5 regular-season sacks, putting up 40% of his year’s total against the best QB of the era in the biggest game of his life is the kind of single-night résumé item that gets you paid.
Only 6 players have posted 2+ sacks in a Super Bowl since 2021 — Williams is one of them.
RareSuper Bowl 2+ sack performances (2021–present)
| Player | Season | Sacks |
|---|---|---|
| Josh Sweat | 2024 | 2.5 |
| Byron Murphy II | 2025 | 2.0 |
| Derick Hall | 2025 | 2.0 |
| Milton Williams | 2024 | 2.0 |
| Aaron Donald | 2021 | 2.0 |
| Von Miller | 2021 | 2.0 |
The Super Bowl 2-sack club since 2021 is a short list: Aaron Donald, Von Miller, Josh Sweat, Milton Williams, Byron Murphy II, Derick Hall. Donald and Miller are Hall of Famers; Sweat got a $76M deal off his.
Williams’s response was the $104M total / $51M-guaranteed Patriots contract signed three weeks later — making him one of the highest-paid interior DTs in football off the back of a 5-sack regular season and one cinematic February.
The 2024 sack total (5) understates the season — 10 QB hits were a career high, up 43% from 2023.
AnomalyWilliams 2024 — Eagles regular season detail
| Stat | 2024 | Career best before |
|---|---|---|
| Sacks | 5.0 | 4.0 (2022) |
| QB Hits | 10 | 7 (2023) |
| TFLs | 7 | 9 (2022) |
| FF | 1 | 1 (2023) |
On the surface, 5 sacks is a ‘good not great’ rotational DT line. Underneath: 10 QB hits set a career high, surpassing the previous best of 7 in 2023 by 43%. His QB-hit total has climbed each year from 6 to 10 — a consistent upward trajectory that sack totals alone don’t capture.
Front-office scouts noticed: the pressure-per-snap profile was elite, and the sack count was constrained by the Eagles rotating in Davis, Carter, and Hargrave. New England banked $51M guaranteed that on a full snap share, the under-the-hood numbers translate to a 9–10 sack pace. The first 11 games (3.5 sacks, on pace for ~5) suggest closer to true rather than a leap.
His 2-sack games are rare and clutch — only 2 in his career, both in wins.
ComparisonMilton Williams 2-sack games (regular season)
| Date | Matchup | Sacks | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Wk 12 | PHI @ LA | 2.0 | W 37–20 |
| 2025 Wk 2 | NE @ MIA | 2.0 | W 33–27 |
He’s had exactly two multi-sack regular-season games in his career — and they bookend the contract that defined his career. Both were wins.
2024 Week 12 vs the Rams: a 2-sack performance during the Eagles’ NFC East title drive that kept his name in playoff-rotation conversations. 2025 Week 2 vs Miami: his Patriots debut multi-sack game, sending the early message that NE’s $51M guaranteed call was being repaid in real time.
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