Giants need Leonard Williams to start playing like team's highest-paid player
Leonard Williams #99 of the Giants on the field before the game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium on October 10, 2021 in Arlington, Texas. Credit: Getty Images/Wesley Hitt
The Giants defense as a whole has underachieved at a remarkably disturbing level through a 1-4 start, and Leonard Williams’ performance as an individual has underscored that nagging reality for a last-place team.
Once considered the Giants’ strength, especially through most of last season when the offense repeatedly stuttered, the defense has betrayed them this year in all but one game. And Williams’ tepid statistical production reflects that truth.
After a breakout season in 2020 that led to a $63 million contract to make him the team’s highest-paid player, Williams’ return on that investment has been shockingly small. He had a career-high 11.5 sacks last season and was the star of that defense, but he has just 1.5 sacks so far.
He has been mostly invisible so far.
Not to worry, Williams says.
"I don’t think there’s any particular reason [sacks are down]," Williams said. "If you just keep hitting the nail, it will eventually come your way. I’m not stressing about it. I’m not going to change my work ethic, change anything about myself, and play out of the system to chase stats. If I keep playing within the system, they’ll eventually come."
Williams understands sacks are the stat by which he and every highly regarded pass rusher are measured. And he knows there is a bigger target on his back because of his newly minted three-year contract that includes a guaranteed $45 million. But he also knows that the only way those will come is if he stays true to defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s system.
"I don’t want to get out of my work ethic, my traditional way of playing to press for stats and please the crowd and please the fans," he said. "Obviously, getting sacks helps our defense, but me playing within the scheme and not pressing is also going to help the defense. As long as I keep playing within the scheme and doing my job and playing hard, the stats will eventually come."
Ask Graham, and he’ll tell you that it’s as much his responsibility of getting Williams back up to speed as the player’s.
"Any time you have a disruptive player like that, when you go back and evaluate, especially as the coordinator, I have to find spots for this guy," Graham said. "Put him over people you perceive as weaknesses. It starts there schematically, doing a better job there for me. For him, it’s definitely not a lack of effort. He’s playing hard. He’s working hard in practice. Sometimes, you just hope sacks come in bunches at some point. It starts with me helping him find better places to put him at, and hopefully it just starts to click at some point."
It can’t happen soon enough. The Giants simply can’t afford to get run over like they did last Sunday against the Cowboys in a 44-20 embarrassment, when they surrendered 515 total yards. Dak Prescott had a field day with little pressure applied by Williams & Co., and the Cowboys had an easy time against a clearly inferior opponent.
With the high-powered offenses of the Rams and Kansas City up in two out of the next three games, the Giants don’t have the luxury of time to wait for the defense to kick it into high gear. And if they are going to make any kind of move this season – still highly doubtful, given the woeful start and the challenging schedule ahead – then Williams must be the one on defense to be the spark.
"You need your best players to play well," Graham said. "[Williams] is a great kid and he’s trying hard. I don’t want him to start pressing, but hopefully [sacks] will come in bunches."
The pressure is on Williams. Even if he tries not to pay attention to it, especially with the megabucks deal he signed in the offseason.
"Every year, people have asked me about pressure," he said. "Last year, when I was on a contract year, they asked me about pressure. The year before that when I got traded [from the Jets], they asked me about pressure. Now that I’m on a new contract … there’s always going to be pressure in this league. You never focus on the pressure."
You focus on "what you can do to help the team and how you approach work every day. We’re focused on winning this week, and eventually, my hard work is going to pay off."
He’d better hurry. Time is running out.
Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”
