New England Patriots defensive coordinator Terrell Williams has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, head coach Mike Vrabel instructed reporters Friday. Vrabel opened his press convention with an announcement about Williams’ prognosis, saying that he’s present process therapy.
“[He] is in the process of treatment, and meeting with specialists, and figuring out the best plan of attack to be able to attack this and heal it and fix it and allow him to get back to better health,” Vrabel mentioned. “You know how much Terrell means to me personally and to the people on this football team.”
Per Vrabel, linebackers coach Zak Kuhr will proceed calling defensive performs in Williams’ absence, whereas defensive assistant Vinny DePalma working with the linebackers. Kuhr took over a few of Williams’ duties throughout the preseason and earlier this month, whereas Williams was dealing with earlier well being issues. Vrabel mentioned that Kuhr “hasn’t missed a beat” in taking on that function.
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Williams has been dealing with well being issues for the previous a number of months. In May, Williams stepped away from rookie minicamp, citing an undisclosed “health scare.” Though Williams didn’t clarify the character of the incident, he implied that stress could have been an element, and instructed reporters that it was a “wake-up call.”
Months later, Williams collapsed on the field during preseason training camp in August, and was later handled for dehydration.
Williams took another medical leave of absence on Sept. 10, with Vrabel declining to offer specifics on the difficulty however telling reporters that they wanted to “run some more tests.” At the time, Vrabel mentioned that Williams can be out for not less than just a few days.
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Williams and Vrabel have labored collectively since 2018, with Williams serving as defensive line coach and later assistant head coach beneath Vrabel throughout his first head teaching stint with the Tennessee Titans. Vrabel, who was hired as the Patriots’ head coach in January, introduced Williams on quickly afterwards.