Excuses, excuses.
Before he was traded to the Giants in late October, defensive lineman Leonard Williams played 371 defensive snaps for the Jets this season, per ProFootballFocus.com. Most (298) were when he was lined up either as a right tackle (180) or right end (118).
Williams might as well have been invisible. He registered no sacks and only eight solo tackles, none for a loss, in seven games. He'd sometimes almost get there, as he was credited by PFF with seven QB hits and 10 hurries. However, his paltry two sacks in his final 18 games wearing green in no way came close to what was expected of him when prior general manager Mike Maccagnan made him the team's first-round selection (sixth overall) in the 2015 NFL Draft.
In my opinion, the Jets were flat-out blessed that the Giants swooped in before the trade deadline to acquire the underperforming prospective free agent. Current Jets GM Joe Douglas secured a third-round pick in 2020 and either a fourth- or fifth-rounder in 2021, depending on whether Williams signs an extension with the Giants.
Since the trade, Quinnen Williams, another interior lineman taken with a very high draft pick (third overall in 2019) by Maccagnan, has played 133 defensive snaps, including 62 at right tackle and 27 at right end. Again, like his namesake, he's had almost no impact on the stat sheet. He did get a sack in Miami when somehow no one blocked him, but outside of that play, he's hit the QB just twice and had only one other solo tackle in three games. Against tanking Washington and the Giants over the last two weeks, Quinnen Williams was virtually shut out, with just one assisted tackle in 86 defensive snaps.
The Jets (3-7), who host the Raiders (6-4) on Sunday, need more. Gang Green, which faced three rookie QBs in their last four games, will be getting a rude wakeup call when Oakland's Derek Carr takes the field. In addition, bruising running back Josh Jacobs is PFF's league leader in "elusive running rating," a metric that combines missed tackles forced with yards after contact.
If the Jets have any hope of extending their modest two-game winning streak, Williams can't have another quiet game.
The Jets, especially coach Adam Gase, have been huffing all year about how the two Williamses have been doing yeoman's work inside, freeing up their teammates to make all the plays. Like most interior linemen, both were often double-teamed.
The Jets are the NFL's top-ranked defense against the run, both in yards per game and average yards per carry. That's usually a sign that the middle of the D-line is stout. In this case, it has to be. Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams at one point in a recent game was forced to use his third pair of inside linebackers — not the third-string, but the third pair — due to injuries. So give both Leonard and Quinnen credit for their contributions versus the run.
"Sometimes that position is one of those ones where everybody's looking for stats," Gase said prior to Thursday's practice. "But (Quinnen Williams) is doing his job. He's making sure he's handling his gap, he's being physical, he's trying to either stalemate or get movement, getting other guys free in the pass-rush games. We would all love for 10 sacks and all these TFLs, but sometimes it doesn't work out like that."
If that's true, then how do the Jets explain the production they've been getting in much more limited time from Nathan Shepherd, a lesser-known project drafted in the third round in 2018? Shepherd, 26, has played three games since coming off the suspended list for two separate violations of the league's PED policy, mostly as Quinnen Williams' backup.
His motor matters. Whereas Quinnen Williams was held in check playing the same position in the last two contests, Shepherd's 43 defensive snaps (27 at right tackle, 10 at right end) yielded two sacks and four solo tackles, all for losses. His 15.8% run-stop percentage, the NFL's fourth-highest rating among interior linemen with at least 15 run snaps, would be even higher if he didn't whiff on two tackles.
So maybe guys at Quinnen Williams' position can make some plays after all.
No one should be throwing out the "B" word yet for Quinnen Williams, who will turn 22 next month. There's a long way to go before he joins such other legendary D-linemen first-round fails from the last 20 years such as Leonard Williams, Vernon Gholston and Dewayne Robertson, all of whom were taken within the first six slots of their respective drafts.
Still, one of Maccagnan's greatest failings in his five offseasons was that he never grasped the pecking order of positions. Both Leonard and Quinnen Williams were touted by some as the "best players in the draft" those years. However, it's much harder for the Jets to recoup the value of those picks from guys playing on the interior defensive line. How much have the two of them been worth this season when, despite their No. 1 ranking versus the run, the team is 24th in points allowed per game?
Jacksonville edge rusher Josh Allen, who is tied for 11th place in the league with eight sacks, was the pick simply because guys who get to the QB or can cover are the most valuable defensive assets. Quinnen Williams would have to develop into an Aaron Donald-type disruptor to be comparable. He may, or he may not.
Just stop making excuses if he doesn't.
For a FAN's perspective of the Nets, Devils and Jets, follow Steve on Twitter @SteveLichtenst1.
