5 Schematic Changes We Could See From the New England Patriots Defense in 2026

The New England Patriots’ defensive approach in 2025 was a tale of two seasons.

In the regular season, New England excelled between the 20s with a stout interior run defense, disciplined coverage principles, and opportunistic stops to halt opponents’ drives short of the red zone. In the postseason, the Patriots shifted that approach to generate more pressure in the backfield with additional blitzers and greatly improved their success rate when the opposition did cross the 20-yard line.

Through an offseason that was dominated by offensive headlines in Foxboro, the few defensive personnel changes that New England did make could be clear indications of their schematic direction for the season ahead.

Yesterday, we began our review of those schematic changes with a look at the Patriots’ offense. Now, we flip sides of the ball to the defense — where Mike Vrabel & Co. will be looking to shore up key success metrics to perform more consistently during the long haul of the regular season.

Here are five schematic changes we could see from the New England defense in 2026.

The Patriots defense steadily improved throughout the course of the 2025 season, slowly evolving from a pressure-centric Cover 1 approach toward a rush-four Cover 3 heavy scheme later in the year. By the conclusion of the regular season, New England ranked 11th in the NFL in EPA (expected points added) per play (-0.049).

Then came the postseason, which saw the Patriots ramp up the heat on opposing quarterbacks by increasing their blitz rate from 27.3% (20th) to nearly 50%. It was effective en route to Super Bowl LX, generating pressure on 69-of-133 dropbacks (51.9%) and holding opposing quarterbacks to a combined 18-of-48 (37.5% completion percentage), 226 yards (4.7 yards per attempt), no touchdowns, three interceptions, 12 sacks, and a passer rating of 31.2.

While successful in the playoffs, it’s not likely New England would send additional rushers at that frequent a rate during the 2026 regular season. That switch was likely made to mask the deficiencies the team had generating pressure with their front four alone, which ranked 24th in the NFL with a 20.3% pressure rate during the regular season.

More probable is the Patriots return to the heavy use of defensive line stunts to create mismatches and test communication along the opposing offensive front. Last season, New England ran stunts at the second-highest rate in the league (25.0%). In doing so, the Patriots’ pass rush got off to a hot start led by free agent acquisition and team captain Harold Landry III. Landry generated 22 pressures and recorded six sacks in the team’s first five games, but a Week 6 knee injury slowed his production to just 27 pressures and 2.5 sacks from that point onward. Without K’Lavon Chaisson (career-high 12.0 sacks including the playoffs) to fall back on in 2026, Landry will be essential in establishing a pass rush once again — with hopes for greater contributions from Elijah Ponder and rookie Gabe Jacas along the edge.

Free agent signee Dre’Mont Jones also figures to be a key piece in the rotation, and his 6’3”, 281 lb. frame has previously given him the versatility to align on the edge or interior effectively. He could play over the guard in obvious passing situations and be a quality rusher off stunts in those cases. Paired with New England’s affinity for blitzing on third-and-medium (35.2%) and third-and-long (33.3%), Jones is another wrinkle in the Patriots’ plan to solve the pass rush this fall.

Jones also looks to be a key part of New England’s plan to solve a hot-and-cold run defense in 2025 — and that’s likely the number-one reason he’s in Foxboro instead of Chaisson in 2026. Last year, the Patriots ranked 22nd in the NFL in EPA per play against the run (-0.046), and their 42.7% success rate ranked 23rd.

As New England’s pass rush slowed later in the regular season, so did their effectiveness against the run. With Milton Williams and Robert Spillane healthy, the Patriots began the year with streaks of eight games without allowing a 50-yard rusher and 11 games without allowing a 100-yard rusher. That changed in Week 12 when Williams and Spillane began missing time due to injuries, but looked to be resolved in the postseason when both returned. In the lead-up to the Super Bowl, New England allowed a total of 113 yards on 48 carries (2.4 yards per carry) by opposing running backs — but were exposed along the edges by Kenneth Walker on the game’s grandest stage.

Walker’s 27 carries for 135 yards (5.0 yards per carry) was good enough to earn MVP recognition and change the Patriots’ approach in setting the edge. That began with Jones, who enters the room with a much different profile than Chaisson (255 lbs.) and is much more consistent in keeping contain along the perimeter.

With a healthy combination of Williams and Spillane policing between the tackles and Jones setting the edge, the Patriots will look to improve upon the successes they experienced defending the run to begin the 2025 season. But while that responsibility may start with the front seven, it won’t end there.

New England’s secondary was the strength of their defense last season and was the area that showed the greatest improvement week after week. That started on early downs with corners and safeties who were willing to play near or behind the line of scrimmage to finish tackles and force opposing offenses into long yardage situations.

At corner, Marcus Jones excelled in the nickelback role as a blitzer and in run support with 47 solo tackles (third on team), eight tackles-for-loss (third), three fumble recoveries (led team), and three sacks (second in the NFL among cornerbacks). Carlton Davis graded out as the 14th-best cornerback in run defense during the regular season, per PFF, and Christian Gonzalez’s development as a tackler was on display with 74 solo tackles (led team), a 1.1% missed tackle rate, and a 90.4 tackling grade that ranked first among NFL cornerbacks.

The Patriots also received great contributions against the run from their safeties, in particular Craig Woodson — who aligned frequently as the “down” safety in a scheme that featured just one-high safety on 70.4% of plays (seventh-highest rate in the NFL). Woodson played 1,202 defensive snaps for New England last season after being selected 106th overall in the 2025 NFL Draft, finished the year as the highest-graded safety in the NFL against the run with an 89.7 run defense grade, and led the league with 30 tackles in the playoffs. He shined in Super Bowl LX with 10 tackles and three tackles-for-loss.

Joining Woodson in the Patriots’ safety room in 2026 is reigning First Team All-Pro selection Kevin Byard III, who led the NFL with seven interceptions in 2025. He’ll be roaming over the top to complete New England’s single-high shell in most cases, but has also been an extraordinarily productive third-level defender against the run in his career. In 2024, Byard set a career-high mark with 130 total tackles and averages 97 tackles per year. He’s the only active player with at least 700 tackles and 30 interceptions since 2016 and has tallied 972 tackles and 36 interceptions since then.

Byard may be more of a deep roamer entering his age-33 season, but his instincts to seek out the ball will position him to make plays near the line of scrimmage at points. He’ll be another versatile piece in disrupting the opponents’ offensive rhythm.

Stopping the run will be a collective effort, especially along the edges. The additions the Patriots have made in those areas are sure to provide a stimulant to a group that showed great promise at points last fall.

Within New England’s typical one-high structure was a multiple approach to coverage that was based around Cover 1 and Cover 3. The Patriots struggled to defend the pass as Gonzalez worked his way back from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for the first three weeks, and at its worst, ranked 25th in the NFL in Pass DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average).

Running Cover 1 on nearly 43% of defensive snaps (seventh in the NFL) early in the season, New England shifted to playing a much higher percentage of Cover 3 late in the year. By the end of the regular season, the Patriots played man-to-man coverages on 30.7% of defensive snaps (16th in the NFL) and zone coverages on 67.9% of plays (20th in the NFL). The change was beneficial, as the team finished with a better EPA per play when running zone (-0.033, ninth in the NFL) than man coverage (0.002, 11th in the NFL).

New England preferred to run their defense out of nickel and were in the five defensive back package for 69.2% of plays in 2025 (eighth-highest rate in the league). By the end of the regular season, the Patriots ran the highest percentage of their coverages in Cover 3 (28.9%), followed by Cover 2 (26.7%), Cover 1 (26.2%), and Cover 4 (9.4%). Their Cover 4 rate went up through the postseason with a split-field look that seemingly startled Houston Texans’ quarterback C.J. Stroud in the Divisional Round.

With both safeties now having the capability to step down into the box and defend effectively against opposing rushers, New England could opt to run more two-high looks pre-snap than they did last season (16.7%, 26th in the NFL). Many modern defenses have begun showing almost exclusively two-high shells at the third-level pre-snap, only rotating one down post-snap. The Patriots could adopt this strategy and maintain their single-high approach, with Byard flanking deep and Woodson dropping into the intermediate area of the field after the ball is snapped.

First, we discussed block destruction. Now, onto another principle of Vrabel’s defensive philosophy: ball disruption — New England’s defensive specialty in 2025. With the trio of Gonzalez, Davis, and Jones shadowing opposing receivers, the Patriots boasted one of the NFL’s elite secondaries last year.

Gonzalez led the way with a career-best passer rating against of 57.0 when targeted (including the playoffs) and ranked fourth in the league with 13 pass breakups. Davis (88) trailed Gonzalez (106) in targets, but was also a tough matchup with 10 pass breakups (eighth in the NFL) and a passer rating against of just 22.5 in the playoff run to Super Bowl LX. Jones tied current Baltimore Ravens’ safety Jaylinn Hawkins for the team lead with four interceptions including the postseason, and scored four non-offensive touchdowns in 2025: two on interception returns and two on punt returns.

Ball disruption would ideally lead to takeaways, but that wasn’t always the case for New England last year. The Patriots finished the regular season with 19 takeaways (10 interceptions, nine fumble recoveries), ranking 21st in the NFL.

Byard should instantly improve that total, as he leads all active players with 36 career interceptions and shows great instincts to locate the ball and make plays all over the deep portion of the field. His intelligence and communication will lift an already excellent unit to new heights and help put others in position to take the football away.

Gonzalez is also likely due for a bump in his interception total. Even with his sustained excellence throughout 2025, he finished the year with one interception. It was as impactful as an interception can be — sealing the AFC Championship Game victory in Denver against the Broncos — but with the high volume of activity he sees, Gonzalez will have plenty of opportunity to create more than one takeaway in 2026. That is, if teams continue testing one of the NFL’s premier players at the position at such a high rate.

Allowing the second-fewest yards on explosive plays last season, the Patriots forced opponents to stay patient and matriculate their way down the field. Now, the aggressive standard set in the playoffs will be the expectation moving forward, and New England will need to turn ball disruption into takeaway generation.

The core tenets of a Vrabel-led defense remain the same: violence, block destruction, and ball disruption. How those characteristics are manifested on the field, however, is set to take another step forward in evolution. With the foundation already laid and experienced leadership added, New England’s defensive approach will likely be built similar to the offense’s — driven by multiplicity under the guise of simplicity.

Ideally, that will lead to a higher pressure rate, more takeaways, and greater efficiency in the red zone with a much larger sample size than their excellence through three postseason games in January. We’ll see how it all shapes up in just a few short days.

What do you want to see more of from the Patriots’ defense this fall? Drop your thoughts in the comments below and join the conversation on Patriots Roundtable.

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