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Look, no matter how you slice it, Dave Gettleman made a mistake trading for Leonard Williams at last year’s trade line, just months before he was about to go free.
Logically … there was no logic. They could have signed Williams in the offseason, instead they burned several draft picks to get him into a lopsided deal with the Jets.
Yet every time Williams rushes into an offensive lineman and takes down a quarterback, that lineman still draped over his arm – as he did in Sunday’s 23-20 win over Washington, sacking Alex Smith – It made the Giants’ decision to trade for him hurt a little less.
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Williams is playing at the Pro Bowl level, and it’s something worth celebrating for Gettleman, who remains in the hot seat amid the Giants’ 2-7 start to the season.
That sack against Washington was Williams’ fifth of the year, a 1,000% increase from his awful half-sack season from 2019.
“There has obviously been a lot in the media from a negative perspective,” Williams said Sunday. “From my perspective, I’ve always known who I am. I feel like I’ve proven I can get into the quarterback, and now I can take them out when I get there.
This offseason, Williams has worked with Patriots legend Richard Seymour, and that work is clearly paying off. Williams is currently on a nine-sack pace which would be a career high. He’s only had five more sacks once, compared to seven in a Pro Bowl season with the Jets in 2016. Since then, Williams was best known for getting close … but no cigar. .
Some coaches preach that pressures are better than sacks, but the reality is that a sack has more impact. As an example: Williams’ sack forced Washington to place third and 14, they were unable to convert and forced to kick.
From 2017-19, Williams had 147 total pressures, per Pro Football Focus, but just 7.5 sacks in 1,510 passing shots and 47 games.
Yet talent was never the issue with Williams. In 2016, PFF ranked Williams as the 10th best offensive tackle in the NFL. In the final eight weeks of the 2019 season – all with the Giants – PFF ranked Williams 14th.
The problem was more with production, really.
After a dominant career with USC, the Jets picked him sixth overall in 2015, and no one wondered if he was the right choice at the time. After that Pro Bowl campaign, his performance was somewhat disappointing compared to expectations, which is why the Jets traded him last year.
Well, that, and because Williams was set to become a free agent and Gettleman gave the Jets two draft picks – a third-round pick in 2020 and a fourth-round pick in 2021 – they have accepted with joy.
The move ultimately locked Gettleman away and he chose to franchise the Williams tag this offseason without signing him to a long-term deal, locking him up at a hefty price tag of $ 16.1 million.
Now Williams is proving the Giants may have found themselves the cornerstone of their defense, a 26-year-old who appears to be improving deeper into his career.
He will be a free agent again this offseason. Gettleman – or, if fired, his replacement – will have to decide how much it’s worth paying him to stay.
“It’s not about the money for me, it’s not about that sort of thing,” Williams said on Sunday. “I think about this game and my love for the game. It’s more about respecting and proving who I am and earning the respect of my peers. I think everything is focused at the same time … Overall our defense is playing pretty well and that helps me to flourish.
If Williams continues like this, the money will come anyway. He might have been worth it, though the trade that got him to the Giants in the first place wasn’t the best idea.
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Zack Rosenblatt can be reached at [email protected]. Tell us your coronavirus story or send a tip here.
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