Some people have questioned exactly where the Jets will play first-round pick Quinnen Williams. Will he be a nose tackle? Will he play over the guard? Can he, Leonard Williams and Henry Anderson all be on the field together? Can he return kicks … wait, what?
“Wherever they put me at, I’m going to play. I’m going to go out there and try to dominate,” Quinnen Williams said Friday at the Jets’ rookie orientation. “If they put me at kickoff returner, I’m going to go crazy. They can put me at anything and I’m going to try to dominate.”
The Jets are in the market for a new kick returner, but chances are they have other plans for the 303-pounder. The franchise was thrilled to land Williams with the No. 3 overall pick in last month’s draft. The Jets view the big defensive lineman out of Alabama as a key piece of their defense who can stop the run and rush the passer from up the middle.
“I think any time that you have a guy that we see as a really talented player, a guy that put a lot of good tape out there in his last year in college, add that to the group we already have, I think it’s really going to be something that can help our defense, especially up the middle,” Jets coach Adam Gase said Friday. “The push up the middle is going to be big for us, especially in this division.”
That sounds like a reference to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, whose kryptonite at times has been a strong pass rush up the middle that forces him out of the pocket. Williams said he wants to sack every quarterback he faces, but admits getting the New England legend would be special.
“It’s crazy because Tom Brady started playing in the NFL before I was born,” Williams said. “To sack him would be amazing.”
He is a little off. Brady was backing up Brian Griese as a redshirt sophomore at Michigan when Williams was born in 1997. But Williams has grown up watching Brady win Super Bowls. Now, he will be chasing him down.
Williams is not just excited about sacking Brady. He was excited about meeting his new Jets teammates, too. Williams wore a big, braces-filled smile as he spoke about his introductions with certain Jets.
“I met Le’Veon Bell yesterday,” Williams said. “I’m like, ‘Whoa, that’s Le’Veon Bell, the number one running back in the NFL.’ It’s just crazy. I know I’m one of the people too, but I don’t really look at it like that. I met Sam Darnold, that’s crazy. Jamal Adams, I’ve got Jamal Adams on my ultimate team [in the Madden video game]. It’s crazy.”
Gase did not lay out the plan for how the Jets will deploy Williams in the fall. He said new defensive coordinator Gregg Williams will have plenty of options.
“With the way Gregg does things, he’ll play a lot of different spots,” Gase said. “Everybody plays a lot of spots. There’s a lot of different personnel groupings. Nobody’s really set in one area where you say he’ll always be on the left, he’ll always be on the right, he’ll always be a three or a nose. Gregg moves these guys around so much, it’s hard to really pinpoint them. We’ll have a good mix of personnel groupings with those guys.”