Look, any way you slice it, Dave Gettleman made a mistake trading for Leonard Williams at last year’s trade line, just a few months before he was set to hit free agency.
Logically … there was no logic. They could’ve signed Williams in the offseason, instead they burned multiple draft picks to bring him in on a lopsided deal with the Jets.
Still, each time Williams bull-rushes an offensive lineman and takes down a quarterback, that lineman still draped to his arm — as he did in Sunday’s 23-20 win against Washington, sacking Alex Smith — it makes the Giants’ decision to trade for him hurt a little bit less.
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Williams is playing at a Pro Bowl level, and that’s something worth celebrating for Gettleman, who remains on 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 abysmal one-half sack season from 2019.
“There’s obviously been a lot of stuff out there in the media in a negative outlook,” Williams said on Sunday. “From my perspective, I’ve always known who I am. I feel like I’ve proven I can get to the quarterback, and now it’s being able to take them down when I get there.”
This offseason, Williams worked with Patriots legend Richard Seymour, and that work is clearly paying off. Williams is currently on pace for nine sacks, which would be a career-high. He’s only had more than five sacks once, when he had seven in a Pro Bowl season with the Jets in 2016. Since then, Williams had become better known for getting close … but no cigar.
Some coaches preach that pressures are better than sacks, but the reality is a sack is more impactful. As an example: Williams’ sack forced Washington into third-and-14, they were unable to convert and forced to punt.
From 2017-19, Williams had 147 total pressures, per Pro Football Focus, but only 7.5 sacks in 1,510 pass-rushing snaps and 47 games.
Still, talent has never been the question with Williams. In 2016, PFF had Williams graded as the 10th-best offensive tackle in the NFL. Over the last eight weeks of the 2019 season — all with the Giants — PFF had Williams ranked 14th.
The issue has been more about production, really.
After a dominant career at USC, the Jets picked him sixth overall in 2015, and nobody debated if that was the right pick at the time. After that Pro Bowl campaign, his performance was somewhat underwhelming relative to the expectations, which is why the Jets traded him at all last year.
Well, that, and because Williams was about to become a free agent and Gettleman offered the Jets two draft picks — a third-round pick in 2020, and a fourth-round pick in 2021 — which they happily accepted.
That decision ultimately boxed Gettleman in, and he opted to franchise tag Williams this offseason without signing him to a long-term deal, locking him in at a hefty $16.1 million price tag.
Now, Williams is proving that the Giants might’ve found themselves a cornerstone of their defense, a 26-year-old who seems to be improving deeper into his career.
He’ll be a free agent again this offseason. Gettleman — or, if he’s fired, his replacement — will have to decide how much it’s worth paying him to stick around.
“It’s not about money for me, it’s not about anything like that,” Williams said on Sunday. “I think about this game and my love for the game. It’s more about respect and proving who I am and gaining respect from my peers. I think it’s all coming together at the same time … Overall, our defense is playing pretty well, and it’s helping me flourish.”
If Williams keeps this up, the money will come anyway. He might be worth it, even if the trade that brought him to the Giants in the first place wasn’t the best idea.
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