On the opening day of the free agent negotiating period, rumors flew about where prize defensive tackle Milton Williams might end up. The Carolina Panthers were hot after the former Philadelphia Eagles interior rusher. But the New England Patriots came over the top for the finisher.
In an interview on Friday's The Insiders, Williams detailed his interaction during the negotiation process.
"My agent was on the phone, and I was kind of in the room," he said. "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.' Then, a split second later, New England hopped on and was like, 'Nah, this is what we got for you.' Carolina felt like they went too high on their number, so, they stayed at where they were at. 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."
The Patriots had plenty of money to shell out to trump any offer the Panthers made. In the end, they secured the Super Bowl champion with a four-year contract for $104 million, with $51 million fully guaranteed at signing.
Penetrating pass rushers just entering their prime rarely hit the market, so even though Williams has always played a rotational role, there is little surprise he had such a strong market -- especially in a year in which teams had money to spend and few attractive free agents were available.
Williams becomes the centerpiece of coach Mike Vrabel's first offseason in charge in New England.
"They welcomed me with open arms," he said of the culture he's encountered in Foxborough. "I just came back from a visit up there last weekend, signing my contract, getting to know the staff, and touring the building. It's going to be cool. Coach Vrabel was just preaching to me how they are going to use me in their defense. Also, how he wants a guy at every level of the defense for free agency. He wants us to come in and try to change the culture around with what's been going on in New England the last couple of years. I definitely think he picked the right guys for that."
The Pats shelled out a ton of money to revamp their squad, including cornerback Carlton Davis, pass rusher Harold Landry and linebacker Robert Spillane. Now comes the part where Williams and the rest prove they were worth all that cash.
