FAMU football defensive coordinator Milton Patterson reportedly joining New England Patriots

Posted by author January 27, 2025 Football

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Milton Patterson spent four seasons on Florida A&M football’s coaching staff. He joined as the Rattlers’ defensive line coach and then got promoted to defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.

Milton Patterson is going to the National Football League.

According to multiple reports, Florida A&M’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach is joining the New England Patriots’ coaching staff. His role with the Patriots has not been announced yet.

NFL reporter Joseph Pasteris first reported Patterson ’s move to New England.

Patterson has been with the Rattlers since the 2021 season, becoming the defensive line coach on former FAMU head coach Willie Simmons’ staff. In 2024, Patterson got promoted to defensive coordinator and linebackers coach on FAMU head coach James Colzie III’s inaugural staff.

Patterson was the co-defensive coordinator for FAMU’s Black College Football National Championship team in 2023.

In his four-year tenure, Patterson has developed many FAMU star defensive players, most notably Isaiah Land, who won the 2021 Buck Buchanan trophy, given to the top defensive player in the Football Championship Subdivision. Land just completed his second NFL season with the Indianapolis Colts.

Other Rattlers standouts Patterson had a hand in were Anthony Dunn Jr., Gentle Hunt, and Kamari Stephens, who all moved on to Football Bowl Subdivision teams after FAMU.

Patterson’s hire to the Patriots places him on head coach Mike Vrabel’s inaugural staff. New England hired Vrabel, a three-time Super Bowl champion linebacker with the Patriots, on Jan. 12 to replace Jerod Mayo after one season.

Patterson has a prior connection with Vrabel. During Vrabel’s tenure as the Tennessee Titans head coach, Patterson spent the 2023 offseason on his staff as part of the NFL’s Bill Walsh Diversity Fellowship.

Patterson, a former four-year letterman linebacker for the Jackson State Tigers, has had coaching stops at Jackson State, Mississippi Valley State, Alabama State, Clark-Atlanta, Fayetteville State, and FAMU.

He’s from Atlanta.

Patterson is scheduled to speak at the Glazier Football Coaches Clinic in Indianapolis from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2.

Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.

Follow his award-winning coverage on RattlerNews.com and contact him via email at GDThomas@Tallahassee.com or on the app formerly known as Twitter @3peatgee.