What hiring Drew Wilkins as outside linebackers coach means for the Patriots.

New England has added another coach to its staff.

New England Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo is not done filling out his staff, and the latest hire adds more experience to the defensive side of the ball. Drew Wilkins, a long-time assistant with the Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants, will join the Patriots as their outside linebackers coach.

Let’s assess the hire from a big-picture perspective.

The Patriots add a highly-regarded coach to their staff

Wilkins may only be 36 years old, but he has done a lot of coaching after spending 12 years in Baltimore and the last two with the Giants. Along the way, he developed into one of veteran coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale’s most trusted advisors and a highly-regarded coach in his own right.

Under Martindale, Wilkins was responsible not just for coaching outside linebackers — something he did in his final two years in Baltimore and throughout his Giants tenure — but also played a role in designing blitzes and preparing third down packages. New York ranked ninth in the league in 2023 in third down conversion rate (37.0%) while also having the second-highest blitz rate (45.4%) in the NFL.

After he was fired from his position with the Giants, presumably in part due to his status as a “Wink guy” more than one attached to head coach Brian Daboll, there was a belief he would follow Martindale to the University of Michigan or get other opportunities. Turns out that he did in New England.

Dont’a Hightower will have some company in the linebacker room

The Patriots hired three-time Super Bowl champion Dont’a Hightower as a linebackers coach earlier this week. With Wilkins now also aboard as an outside linebackers coach, it appears the two men will split responsibilities while still working closely together — similarly to what the team did the last few years with Jerod Mayo and Steve Belichick, without their quasi-coordinator duties.