From waiver claim to All-Pro. An NFL story that is still being written by Jets' linebacker Quincy Williams.
"I don't know what it was like in Jacksonville, I can imagine it was different," head coach Robert Saleh said on Tuesday, referring to Williams' first stop in 2019. "I just know him here, his mindset and everyday prep, the way he approaches things, not just on the field, but off the field. The decisions he makes and the way he leads his life and the person he has become is exactly what you want out of a professional athlete."
Williams, 27, the older brother of teammate and DL Quinnen Williams, turned a page when he joined the Jets ahead of the 2020 season. He was plucked off waivers by general manager Joe Douglas in an astute move that has increased in value (and a new contract last year) over the past three seasons.
As he and his teammates prepare for Thursday's joint practice against Washington at One Jets Drive (then the preseason opener Saturday afternoon at MetLife Stadium), Williams said he's ready for "the controlled combat" to come. And although he's one of the fastest linebackers in the league, he contradicted his coach's assessment that the game has slowed down for him.
"I wouldn't say slowed down, more like the anticipation is there," Williams said. "Seeing the same thing over and over and also realizing that offenses are really the same, they just dress it up differently. Just having that mindset of: What's going to happen next? The anticipation has helped me out a lot. So there comes preparation, game study and then also communicating with the rest of my teammates. C.J. [Mosley] sees something, I see something we speak to each other and we're speaking the same language."
Williams' progression from castoff to a star on the Jets' elite defense has been nothing short of a testament to his hard work and determination. In the each of the past three seasons, he has totaled more than 100 tackles, capped by a career high 139 (95 solo) in 2023, when he was named an All-Pro.
"It's more fun, especially when you get to call out the plays, they're trying to trick you and stuff, and you're like 'come on in,' and you're standing right there waiting to make the play. You get a certain type of excitement because first of all you're excited that the preparation you did, all the hard work that you did it's working. Then it's also excelling and when you get to celebrate with your teammates it's a lot of fun."
For Saleh and defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich there's a special sense of pride in seeing a player mature before their eyes and become an important cog for the unit.
"We celebrate the anomalies, the handful of guys that just explode onto the scene and they become great the second they hit the field," Saleh said. "There are some guys, they just take time. It's OK if it takes two, three, four years. But we've been fortunate. We've had the same system now on defense going into our fourth year. He's been with us for four years and it's just incrementally getting better because there's a lot of recall. Like we said, it's one kick and repping it 1,000 times."
Williams, last season's Curtis Martin Team MVP, recently cracked the NFL's Top-100 list (voted on by the players) for the first time in his career, at No. 32.What can he do for an encore?
"Consistency, All-Pro again," he said. "I set the standard for myself, now keeping the same standard and exceeding that standard. No. 32 on Top 100, now it's like getting better. There's a foundation and a floor, and now it's about going higher." He added: "When I fine tune what I call my blueprint, how I got to this spot, OK, you're on the right path. Not that you've made it, but you're on the right path."
