Drew Wilkins joins Los Angeles in 2025 as a pass rush coordinator after spending last season coaching outside linebackers with the New England Patriots.
In his first season with the Patriots, Wilkins coached a unit that included Anfernee Jennings and Keion White. Jennings recorded career-highs in tackles (78) and sacks (2.5). White took a jump in his second professional season and tallied career-highs in tackles (56), sacks (5.0), and tackles for loss (seven). White also tied for the team lead in sacks and Jennings finished with the third-most.
Prior to joining the Patriots, Wilkins spent two seasons with the New York Giants as their outside linebackers coach. He coached a unit that included OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux, the fifth overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft. Thibodeaux finished the 2023 season with a career-high 11.5 sacks which also led the team. His 11.5 sacks were tied for the 12th-most in the NFL. Jihad Ward, who had previously played for Wilkins in Baltimore, recorded a career-high five sacks in 2023.
In Wilkins' debut season with the Giants in 2022, Thibodeaux was selected to the All-Rookie Team by the PFWA and was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his dominant performance on Dec. 18 in Washington when he recorded a team-high 12 tackles (nine solo), three tackles for loss and a strip sack whose fumble he recovered and returned one yard for his first NFL touchdown. Thibodeaux also recorded a game-sealing strip-sack in the Giants' victory over the Baltimore Ravens. After missing the first two games due to injury, Thibodeaux improved as the season progressed and was named a Pro Bowl alternate.
Despite being limited to only seven regular season games, second-year pro Azeez Ojulari finished second on the team with 5.5 sacks and led the team with three forced fumbles. Ward recorded career-highs of 43 tackles and seven tackles for loss (tied for team-lead).
The 2022 Giants ranked fifth in the NFL in third-down defense as their opponents converted just 35.1% of their opportunities. They also ranked fifth in the NFL in red-zone defensive efficiency in 2022. The Giants allowed 45 fewer points and recorded seven more sacks than they had the previous season, a major reason their victory total increased by five games. They earned their first playoff berth since 2016 and won their first playoff game since 2011.
Prior to joining the Giants, Wilkins spent 12 seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. He spent the last 10 working with Michigan defensive coordinator Don 'Wink' Martindale, including the last four coaching the outside linebackers. His tenure included a Ravens victory in Super Bowl XLVII.
In 2021, the Ravens' defense led the NFL against the run and allowed just 84.5 yards a game. Baltimore was third in the league in third-down defense, a conversion percentage of just 34.8 percent (70 of 201). Wilkins mentored rookie outside linebacker Odafe Oweh, who was selected to the All-Rookie Team by the PFWA. Oweh tallied the second-most pressures (49), third-most hurries (34), fourth-most sacks (5.0), and tied for the eighth-most tackles for loss (five) among rookies.
The previous season, the Ravens allowed the NFL's second-fewest points per game (18.9), produced the No. 2 third-down defense (34.0%), and registered an NFL-high 25 forced fumbles. The 2019 Ravens produced a franchise-best 14-2 record and won a second straight AFC North title. Baltimore allowed the third-fewest points (17.6) and fourth-fewest net yards (300.6) per game in the NFL.
OLB Matthew Judon was selected to two Pro Bowls (2019, 2020) during his tenure with Wilkins in Baltimore. Wilkins also coached OLB Terrell Suggs, who registered 139.0 career sacks (eighth in NFL history) and was selected to seven Pro Bowls.
Wilkins debuted as Baltimore's outside linebackers coach in 2018, when the Ravens had the league's top-ranked defense where they allowed 292.9 yards per game. Baltimore also held teams to the second-fewest points per game (17.9). OLB Za'Darius Smith also recorded then career-highs in sacks (8.5), tackles for loss (10), total tackles (45), and passes defended (two) while starting just eight games. Smith's 25 quarterback hits in 2018 are the second-highest single-season total of his career.
In 2017, Wilkins worked with a defensive unit that led the league in both takeaways (34) and interceptions (22). Suggs was named to his seventh Pro Bowl this season after recording 11.0 sacks, his highest total since 2014. He also forced four fumbles, the third-highest single-season total of his career.
During Wilkins' three seasons (2014-16) as a defensive assistant, he was responsible for the weekly production of the defensive playbook, scouting reports, film breakdown, and assisting with the development of the defensive line in practice. In his third and final season as an analyst, the team tied for the most interceptions (18), totaled the fifth-most takeaways (28), and allowed the fifth-fewest rushing yards (1,430) In 2015, the Ravens defense allowed the eighth-fewest yards (5,398), the 12th-fewest rushing yards (1,661) and the 13th-most tackles for loss (83). In his first season as a defensive analyst, the Ravens allowed the eighth-fewest yards (5,391), seventh-fewest yards per play (5.2), and had the 11th-most takeaways (22).
Wilkins joined the organization in 2010 as a football video operations intern before becoming a video coordinator in 2012, when the Ravens won the Super Bowl.
Wilkins graduated from the University of Maryland in 2010 with a double major in finance and supply chain management. While attending Maryland, he worked as a student assistant under former Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen and current Penn State head coach James Franklin.
Wilkins hometown is Doylestown, Pa.. He attended La Salle College High School (Wyndmoor, Pa.), where he graduated in 2006 and earned all-league honors as a senior tight end.
Wilkins was selected to the East-West Shrine Game coaching staff four times (2017-19, 2022) after displaying extraordinary teaching and communication skills in the coaching profession. He also served as the West squad's defensive coordinator in 2019 and the East squad's defensive coordinator in 2022.
Wilkins and his wife, Nurit, have two sons, Benjamin Clarence and Leo Daniel, and a daughter, Emily Nina. His younger brother, Kevin, is a defensive analyst at Michigan.
