Lawyer Marzell Milloy (born November 14, 1973) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons. He played college football for the Washington Huskies, and earned unanimous All-American honors. He was selected by the New England Patriots in the second round of the 1996 NFL draft, and also played for the Buffalo Bills, Atlanta Falcons, and Seattle Seahawks of the NFL. He was a four-time Pro Bowl selection, a two-time All-Pro, and a member of the Patriots' Super Bowl XXXVI championship team that beat his hometown team, the St. Louis Rams.
Milloy attended the University of Washington, where he played for the Huskies under head coach Jim Lambright from 1993 to 1995. He was the only sophomore in the Pac-10 Conference to earn all-conference honors in 1994 as he led UW and finished third in the Pac-10 with 106 tackles (67 solos); he became the first Husky defensive back to lead the team in tackles since Tony Bonwell recorded 142 tackles in 1972, and he was also had an interception, two forced fumbles and one recovered fumble. Milloy started all year at free safety as a junior, leading the team in tackles for the second consecutive season with 115, in addition to tallying three forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and one interception. He was recognized as a unanimous All-American in 1995, having earned first-team honors from the Associated Press, the Walter Camp Foundation, UPI, the American Football Coaches Association, the Football Writers Association, and The Football News. Milloy also received first-team All-Pac-10 honors and the Jim Thorpe Award in 1995.
Milloy was drafted by the Cleveland Indians as a pitching prospect out of high school and lettered three seasons in baseball at Washington. He was later selected in the 1995 draft by the Detroit Tigers in the 19th round. In 1994, the Huskies advanced to the NCAA regional finals (Sweet 16), one round from the College World Series, but lost two straight in Wichita to Georgia Tech, led by future major leaguers Jason Varitek and Nomar Garciaparra.
During the pre-draft process, Milloy met with the New England Patriots' secondary coach Bill Belichick.
Milloy was projected to be a first or second round pick by NFL draft experts and scouts. He was considered to be one of the top three safety prospects available in the draft, along with Memphis safety Jerome Woods and Texas Tech safety Marcus Coleman.
The New England Patriots selected Milloy in the second round (36th overall) of the 1996 NFL draft. Milloy was the second safety drafted in 1996, behind Memphis safety Jerome Woods (28th overall).
Throughout training camp, Milloy competed to be the starting strong safety against Terry Ray. Milloy impressed the Patriots' coaching staff during the preseason and was able to make a case for the starting role. Defensive backs coach Bill Belichick lobbied for Milloy to be the starter, but head coach Bill Parcells opted to name Terry Ray the starting strong safety to begin the regular season instead.
He made his professional regular season debut in the New England Patriots' 24–10 loss at the Miami Dolphins. On September 15, 1996, Milloy recorded five combined tackles during a 31–0 win against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 3. Milloy made his first career tackle on Cardinals' wide receiver Frank Sanders in the second quarter. Milloy surpassed Terry Ray on the depth chart and earned the starting strong safety position after Week 7. On October 20, 1996, Milloy earned his first career start and recorded seven combined tackles and forced the first fumble of his career in the Patriots' 27–9 win at the Indianapolis Colts in Week 8. On November 17, 1996, Milloy collected a season-high 12 combined tackles and made his first career interception during a 34–8 loss to the Denver Broncos in Week 12. Milloy made his first career interception off a pass by Broncos' quarterback John Elway, that was originally intended for running back Terrell Davis, and returned it for a 14-yard gain in the third quarter. In Week 15, he recorded three combined tackles and made his first career sack during a 34–10 win against the New York Jets. Milloy made his first career sack on Jets' backup quarterback Glenn Foley for a seven-yard loss in the third quarter. He finished his rookie season in 1996 with 82 combined tackles, two interceptions, two forced fumbles, and a sack in 16 games and ten starts.
The New England Patriots finished first in the AFC East with an 11–5 record and earned a first-round bye. On January 5, 1997, Milloy started in his first career playoff game and made five combined tackles and an interception as the Patriots defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 28–3 in the AFC Divisional Round. Milloy intercepted a pass by Steelers' quarterback Mike Tomczak, that was intended for wide receiver Andre Hastings, in the third quarter. The following week, he made seven combined tackles as the Patriots defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 20–6 in the AFC Championship Game. On January 26, 1997, Milloy played in Super Bowl XXXI and recorded eight tackles during the Patriots' 35–21 loss to the Green Bay Packers.
On February 11, 1997, it was reported that New England Patriots' head coach Bill Parcells had accepted the General Manager/Head coaching position with the New York Jets after both teams agreed to a deal. Head coach Pete Carroll named Milloy the starting strong safety to start the regular season, alongside free safety Willie Clay and cornerbacks Jimmy Hitchcock and Ty Law. On November 16, 1997, Milloy collected a season-high 12 combined tackles during a 27–7 at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 12. The following week, he tied his season-high of 12 combined tackles as the Patriots defeated the Miami Dolphins 27–24 in Week 13. He started in all 16 games in 1997 and recorded 112 combined tackles, three interceptions, and forced two fumbles.
The New England Patriots finished atop the AFC East with a 10–6 record in their first season under Carroll. On January 3, 1998, Milloy recorded ten combined tackles in the Patriots' 7–6 loss at the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Divisional Round.
Head coach Pete Carroll retained Milloy and Willie Clay as the starting safeties in 1998. On September 20, Milloy recorded nine combined tackles and returned an interception for his first career touchdown during a 27–16 win against the Tennessee Oilers in Week 3. Milloy intercepted a pass by Oilers' quarterback Steve McNair intended for Yancy Thigpen and returned it for a 30-yard touchdown to seal the Patriots' victory in the fourth quarter. In Week 16, he collected a season-high 14 combined tackles during a 24–21 win against the San Francisco 49ers. He started all 16 games in 1998 and recorded 120 combined tackles, a career-high six interceptions, a sack, and a touchdown. Milloy was selected to the 1999 Pro Bowl, the first Pro Bowl selection of his career.
Carroll named Milloy and Chris Carter the starting safeties in 1999, alongside cornerbacks Ty Law and Steve Israel.
On October 24, Milloy collected a season-high 14 combined tackles during a 24–23 win against the Denver Broncos in Week 7. Milloy started in all 16 games in 1999 and recorded 120 combined tackles, made four interceptions, and two sacks. Milloy was selected to the 2000 Pro Bowl and was widely regarded as the top safety in the league during the season.
On January 3, 2000, the New England Patriots fired head coach Pete Carroll after the Patriots finished with an 8–8 record the previous season. On January 27, the Patriots announced former New York Jets' defensive coordinator Bill Belichick as their new head coach. The Patriots traded three draft picks to the New York Jets to hire Belichick, who was supposed to be the successor at head coach for the Jets after Bill Parcells. Belichick was Milloy's position coach as a rookie and was instrumental in the Patriots' decision to draft Milloy in 1996. Milloy was asked about Belichick by Patriots' owner Robert Kraft and stated he admired him and highly recommended Kraft hire him as the new head coach as he thought Belichick could be a great coach and could take the organization where it needed to go. Belichick also served as defensive coordinator in 2001 and hired Eric Mangini to be the defensive backs coach.