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COACHING

Tony Dews joined the Patriots in 2025 as running backs coach after holding the same position at the New York Jets for the 2024 season.

Dews played a key role in the 2025 offense finishing the season ranked third in the NFL in yards per game (379.4), an AFC best, and he helped propel the unit to the second-best scoring offense in the league (490), along with the sixth-most rushing yards per game (128.9). Rookie RB TreVeyon Henderson became only the second player in NFL history to have multiple games with two 50-plus yard touchdowns in a single season. His total of four touchdown runs of 50-plus yards tied the NFL rookie record and tied for the third most in a season in league history. Additionally, RB Rhamondre Stevenson surged into the top five on the franchise's all-time list for rushing yards as he also extended his streak of at least 700 scrimmage yards in his first five seasons, the first player in New England history to do so.

Prior to New York, Dews spent six seasons at the Tennessee Titans under Mike Vrabel, coaching running backs from 2018-22 before transitioning to tight ends for 2023. That season, TE Chigoziem Okonkwo set career-highs in receptions (54) and receiving yards (528).

Under Dews' tutelage from 2018-22, the Titans finished in the top five in rushing offense three times (2019, 2020 and 2021). RB Derrick Henry lead the NFL in rushing attempts, yards and touchdowns with 1,464 carries for 7,101 yards and 68 touchdowns. Henry also had a league-high 32 100-yard rushing games during that span. In 2021, the Titans ranked fifth in rushing offense (141.4 rushing yards per game), and Henry still ranked ninth in the NFL in rushing yards despite missing nine games due to injury.

In 2020, the Titans were second in the league in rushing offense (168.1 yards per game), and Henry became the first player since RB LaDainian Tomlinson (2006-07) to lead the NFL in rushing yards in back-to-back years. Henry rushed for a career-high 2,141 yards, good for the eighth 2,000-yard rushing season in NFL history. His 2020 campaign earned him the 2020 Associated Press Offensive Player of the Year award.

Over the final six games of the regular season and the Titans' three playoff games in 2019, Henry had seven 100-yard games and became the first player in NFL history to rush for at least 180 yards in three consecutive regular season and/or postseason games. In Dews' first season as running backs coach in 2018, Henry ranked second in the AFC in rushing yards (1,059) and third in the NFL in rushing touchdowns (12). Additionally, RB Dion Lewis set career-high marks in receptions (59) and receiving yards (400).

Dews has coached every offensive and defensive position besides quarterback throughout his career. He coached in the college ranks at Millersville (1998), West Virginia (1999-01, 2007, 2017), California (PA) (2002), Holy Cross (2003), Central Michigan (2004-05), UNLV (2006), Michigan (2008-10), Pittsburgh (2011), and Arizona (2012-16).

PLAYING

Dews was a four-year letterwinner as a tight end at Liberty from 1992-95. Leading the team in receiving as a junior and senior, he played for legendary coach Sam Rutigliano, who rose through the high school and college ranks to win NFL Coach of the year honors with the Cleveland Browns in 1980. Dews was named a first team All-American in 1995.

PERSONAL

Dews graduated from Liberty where he played from 1992-95 as a tight end. He later earned a master's degree in 2001 from West Virginia. Dews and his wife, Tamika, have four daughters.