The New England Patriots will have a big role to fill in their personnel department. Camren Williams, the team’s director of college scouting for the last three years, has left the organization to join the Denver Broncos as co-director of player personnel.
Let’s assess what the move means from a big-picture perspective.
More turnover
Williams is the latest member of the personnel department leaving the organization this offseason. The Patriots previously saw the departures of director of pro scouting Patrick Stewart and southeast area scout Josh Hinch; the former has since been replaced in his role by A.J. Highsmith.
Will Williams’ departure be the last? That remains to be seen, but it is clear that the team’s rebuilding efforts are not just focused on the field; the hire of head coach Mike Vrabel plus the subsequent addition of vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden have set the stage for significant turnover all across the Patriots’ football operations.
Unsurprising move
If there was a title to the Patriots’ 2025 offseason, it might just be “Renewal, or: How to leave your storied past behind you.” From that perspective, Williams’ departure comes as little surprise.
Since Mike Vrabel’s arrival, the team has parted ways with several people who have had ties to the previous regimes of Jerod Mayo — who, in hindsight, was little more than a placeholder — and Bill Belichick. That process is most prominent on the field, where the likes of David Andrews, Ja’Whaun Bentley and Joe Cardona have all been let go.
Off the field, the Belichick ties have been drastically reduced as well. Williams is the latest in a group that also contains assistant coaches such as DeMarcus Covington, Mike Pellegrino and Brian Belichick, as well as the aforementioned director of pro scouting Patrick Stewart.
Given how long Belichick ran the show in Foxborough, it is only natural that there are several other connections between his 24-year tenure and the new-look team headed by his former starting linebacker. Not all of them will be cut just yet, but there are several people to keep an eye on in the coming weeks, starting with director of player personnel Matt Groh and director of football strategy Marshall Oium.
Replacement candidates aplenty
The Patriots have two ways to replace Williams. They either can promote from within, or look outside the building to find a new college scouting director.
If Mike Vrabel and company want to go down the first avenue, the names that stand out are the three national scouts: Matt Evans, Tucker Ingraham, and Tony Kinkela. Alternatively, they also could opt to move Matt Groh or his assistant, Sam Fioroni, over to head the college scouting department.
However, an outside hire — possibly with with ties to Vrabel and Ryan Cowden — seems more likely based on how the club has operated so far this offseason.
We already previously mentioned the likes of Mical Johnson, Corey Cooper and Mike Derice, who all would make sense as possible additions. The former two were recently let go from the Titans — just like new Patriots director of pro personnel A.J. Highsmith — and have experience with both Vrabel and Cowden; the latter was a national scout for the New York Giants who overlapped with Cowden.
Titans college scout Matt Miller and senior national scout Mike Boni also would make sense given their history with the Patriots’ current regime.
New call guy
A look inside the Patriots’ draft room each of the last two years showed that Williams was the first point of contact for eventual picks; he took over “phone duty” from former Patriots staffer Berj Najarian in 2024. With Williams now in Denver, that role will obviously go to somebody else.