Avery Williams is a “sneaky big loss” for the Atlanta Falcons
The Morning Shift reacted to the Falcons primary punt returner and overall Swiss army knife tearing his ACL at the Falcons open practice at Mercedes-Benz Stadium last week.
Beau Morgan says while Williams is “a core special teamer” he is also “much more than that.” Williams is truly a player that can do it all for the Falcons.
Williams came into the league as a defensive back and went through a position change to running back last offseason, and was getting some snaps at wide receiver during OTAs this offseason.
The Falcons' former fifth-round pick had some success at running back last season as well with 109 rushing yards off of 22 attempts across 17 games. So Williams is a guy that at this point could play at three different positions for Atlanta.
However, there is no doubt that the Falcons will miss Williams the most as a punt returner. He didn’t officially lead the NFL in average yards per punt return last season because he didn’t have enough attempts to qualify. But unofficially Williams led the league in punt return yards, averaging 16.2 yards per punt return. This average was three yards more than the next punt returner's average at 13.2. Williams had three returns of 20-plus yards.
Arthur Smith won’t make excuses for the team, and he will find the right guy to step up into Williams' spot as a punt returner. But make no mistake about it, the Falcons will miss Avery Williams this season, and this is a much more significant loss than most Falcons fans think.