Drew Wilkins spent 2024 as the outside linebackers coach in Foxborough.
Turnover is ahead in Foxborough. But for the current outside linebackers coach of the New England Patriots, so are January plans.
Drew Wilkins has been selected to serve as the East team’s defensive coordinator at the 100th annual East-West Shrine Bowl, it was announced Thursday.
Introducing the Defensive Coordinator of the East Team for the 2025 East-West Shrine Bowl!
Drew Wilkins, @Patriots#ShrineBowl pic.twitter.com/fXHYEbAWsE
— East-West Shrine Bowl (@ShrineBowl) January 16, 2025
Wilkins, 37, joined former head coach Jerod Mayo’s Patriots staff last February after spending the previous two years with the New York Giants. The staff is now subject to departures and arrivals under new head coach Mike Vrabel. In 2024, Wilkins oversaw an outside linebacker depth chart that lost Matthew Judon and Joshua Uche via trades and was led by Anfernee Jennings’ 831 snaps. By the end of the 4-13 season, defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington’s side of the ball stood with 28 sacks and 12 takeaways.
A graduate of the University of Maryland, where he served as a student assistant, Wilkins entered the NFL ranks as a video operations intern with the Baltimore Ravens in 2010. He would spend a total of 12 campaigns with the Super Bowl XLVII champions, going from the title of defensive coaching assistant to the title of assistant defensive line coach by 2017.
While continuing to work with the defensive line, the role of outside linebackers coach was added to Wilkins’ responsibilities the next year. Yet during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, he exclusively worked with Baltimore’s outside linebackers before following veteran defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale to the NFC East.
East-West Shrine Bowl practices will run from Jan. 25 through Jan. 28 at the University of North Texas. The game’s kickoff at AT&T Stadium is set for Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. ET.