BEREA, Ohio (92.3 the Fan) – A calf injury has sidelined rookie cornerback Greg Newsome II for at least this week meaning it’s next man up in the secondary.
That means Greedy Williams gets the call to make his first start since his rookie season in 2019.
“Just playing with no worries. Whatever the situation is, that’s what it is,” Williams said Thursday. “Me just coming in and doing what I’m supposed to do, which is my role and play at the highest level.”
Williams, a 2019 second-round selection, has been through a lot in the last 14 months, but he never doubted that he would get a chance to contribute defensively.
“This is a long season - 17 weeks,” Williams said. “Opportunity is going to pop up. It popped up early. So I just have to be ready to go.”
A shoulder injury suffered during training camp cost him his sophomore season in 2020.
The injury included nerve damage that could have threatened his career, but he worked hard to rehab and positioned himself to compete against Newsome, the team’s first round pick this year, during camp for a starting role.
Then he suffered a groin injury late in camp, all but assuring that Newsome, who was selected 26th overall out of Northwestern, would win the job.
“I hate soft tissue injuries. They suck,” Williams said. “You just have to grind through it and just be ready. I’ve been taking treatment, twice, three times a day, just to stay ready. I feel like we’re at the point now where it’s time to go.”
Now Newsome is down – albeit briefly with injured reserve not being considered at this time – and it’s Williams who is being called upon to hold it down.
“I have seen enough of him in practice just to know what he is capable of doing,” defensive coordinator Joe Woods said. “He is athletic. He has length. He is able to be aggressive for us in terms of playing man coverage. It is more really the physical aspect of it, just coming off of the shoulder [injury]. I think he is confident. When we stepped in the game, he made a couple of plays so he will be ready to go.”
Williams started 12 games as a rookie in 2019 where he broke up a pair of passes, registered 47 tackles and two tackles for loss.
“He’s been practicing like a starter all camp, all season,” safety John Johnson II said. “I expect nothing less. We’ll see what he does.
Within himself, I know he’ll get ready to play this game, I know he’ll be even more fired up than he previously was. I’m happy for him and I’m excited to see how he does.”
That experience will be invaluable as Williams will have his hands full trying to help slow down Vikings receivers Adam Thielan and Justin Jefferson.
“Two great receivers,” Williams said. “Obviously Thielen's a vet so I'm pretty sure he got Justin under his wing, teaching him a lot of different things. And that just makes us want to go harder...hyping everybody up. But we just want to stay dialed in and complete the task”
Williams had been making his mark on special teams, where he had been getting the bulk of his snaps the first three games.
“Greedy did a nice job on kickoff for us. He is in the right spots. He did an extremely good job on punt return as a holdup corner,” special teams coordinator Mike Priefer said.
Williams has just been anxious to contribute anywhere he could which meant a lot to Priefer.
“He came into the year with a positive attitude,” Priefer said. “He knew that we drafted a young man who could beat him out. He competed against him, got hurt and then once he became healthy again, he looked at me and said, ‘Coach, whatever you need me to do, I will do.’”
Williams refused to give up because of his love of the game and that love of the game is what has kept the door open for him to still make an impact.
“No matter what, you just want to go out there and compete against anybody,” Williams said. “So my opportunity came up and I just wanted to be happy playing football, which is something we love to do. So just being happy and, like I said, playing football. It really made me play great on special teams.”
The Browns are counting on him to be just as great in the secondary for however long he is needed.