Defensive tackle Quinnen Williams won’t play when the New York Jets meet the Green Bay Packers on Saturday afternoon, just as he didn’t in the Jets’ NFL preseason opener last week.
But there’s a difference this week for the former Alabama All-American. Sidelined since suffering a foot injury on May 6, Williams returned to individual drills with his teammates on Monday, and in the Jets’ joint practice with the Packers on Thursday, Williams made an appearance in 11-on-11 work.
“We got a great group of guys, man, on the whole entire team and a great coaching staff,” Williams said, “and I was just ready to be a part of that, ready to be in the mix with that because I didn’t get a chance to do OTAs and summer workouts and different things like that with the team, so now I got the opportunity to be around them, of course I’m excited and ready to roll.”
Williams said being “ready to roll” wasn’t just a cliché.
“I’m in great shape,” Williams said on Monday. “We got an amazing strength-and-conditioning staff. Right after I broke my foot, they put together a plan to keep me in shape, keep me the way I wanted to be because I know last year my biggest thing was conditioning, my biggest thing was performing. I explained that to those guys, and they was right behind me 100 percent. …
“Just following the process on what the strength-and-conditioning staff and the training room gave me, it was a big thing for me to just stay focused on that and just sharpen my ax every day so going on the field this week I can be explosive still, I can be the player that I am.”
Williams’ absence from practice has only heightened the anticipation of how he might perform in the Jets’ new defensive scheme.
After posting a 2-14 record in 2020, New York replaced head coach Adam Gase with San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.
“The man is just pure mass, right?” Saleh said of Williams on Monday. “I mean you look at him, he’s enormous, and to get all that mass moving forward without having to read anything on the fly – it’s just absolute attack up front. It’s hard to stop that mass from moving, especially with how strong he is, how smart he is, how violent he is and how explosive he is, so the amount of knock-back that we feel like he’ll be able to generate in this scheme and the amount of disruptions that we feel like he’ll be able to generate, it’s going to be awesome.
“But, obviously, he’s behind. He didn’t have OTAs, he didn’t have training camp, and he’s got a lot of catching up because it’s not a simple technique. It takes a lot of reps, a lot of trust and so getting him back is exciting.”
In Saleh’s scheme, Williams will line up as the three-technique defensive lineman, and instead of reading keys and occupying blockers, the former Wenonah High School star will aim to get in the backfield in a hurry.
“The scheme itself is amazing, man” Williams said. “You get the chance to unleash yourself, get after the quarterback, get a chance to be explosive and use all the attributes that each guy in the room got. …
“I played at Bama in a 3-4. Last year, I played in a 3-4, and it was like a lot of reading and catching blocks and stuff like that. Now I get to explode and get off the ball and stuff like that. It’s very different at the beginning, but as I continue to learn and continue to get everything down pat, it’s super fun to me.
‘I had to change my stance. That was like one of the things that I had to redo. Once I got that stance with coach (Aaron) Whitecotton and coach Nate Ollie, it helped me unleash some explosive traits I have.”
A consensus All-American and the winner of the Outland Trophy as nation’s best college interior lineman in 2018, Williams joined the Jets as the third player picked in the 2019 NFL Draft. He had 28 tackles, 2.5 sacks, four tackles for loss and six quarterback hits while playing 512 defensive snaps in 13 games as a rookie. In his second season, Williams had 55 tackles, seven sacks, 10 tackles for loss and 14 quarterback hits while playing 587 defensive snaps in 13 games.
“I ain’t did nothing yet,” Williams said. “I feel like I ain’t scratched the surface. I feel I’m still learning. From Year 1 to Year 2 went by so fast and I learned so much from Year 1 to Year 2 that I feel I haven’t scratched the surface.
“I just redid my whole, entire stance all the way over. You learn that in Little League, you know what I’m saying? How to get in a stance and stuff like that. So for me to go and relearn how to get back in my stance so I can unleash the explosiveness that I have, the explosive trait so I can perform in this scheme, well that goes to tell you I haven’t scratched the surface on what I can become in this league.”
Williams’ appearance in the Jets’ work with the Packers was good news for New York on Thursday. But there was bad news, too, as defensive end Carl Lawson suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon, which will sideline the former Auburn standout for the 2021 season, costing the Jets one of what Williams called their “family full of sharks.”
The Jets and Packers will square off at 3:25 p.m. CST Saturday at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. NFL Network will televise the game.
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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