Quinnen Williams poised for big year with Jets

So much of the optimism surrounding the Jets these days – and yes, that optimism is palpable – comes from players who weren’t a part of last year’s 4-13 season of growing pains for first-year coach Robert Saleh and rookie quarterback Zach Wilson.

With good reason. General manager Joe Douglas looked far and wide to produce a sweeping roster overhaul, first in a free agency binge that brought in cornerback D.J. Reed, safety Jordan Whitehead, guard Laken Tomlinson, defensive lineman Solomon Thomas and tight ends C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Conklin. Then came Douglas’ tour de force in the draft, when his first-round class featured cornerback Sauce Gardner, wide receiver Garrett Wilson and edge rusher Jermaine Johnson.

Yet this season might very well come down to some key players who were already in place before Douglas’ transformation began. Topping that list, of course, is Wilson, whose development in Year 2 will be perhaps the most significant determinant of the Jets’ success. Or failure. But it is another high draft pick who can also have a major impact on this season. And if the flashes we have seen from defensive lineman Quinnen Williams grow into full-blown stardom, then this team will be much more of a factor moving forward.

Don’t let the aw-shucks grin and self-deprecating comments fool you: Williams might be a gentle soul off the field, but he has become one of the team’s most impactful defenders during his methodical rise from raw No. 3 overall pick in 2019 to borderline Pro Bowl performer in 2021. He’s not there yet, but with 15 ½ career sacks and some of those “aha” moments you see when he slashes through the offensive line to get to the quarterback or brings down a runner with a diving tackle, you see the possibilities.

So does Williams, who seems poised to put his stamp on the league as an elite defender.

“I’ve grown a lot, but I’ve got a lot of growing space to go,” Williams said this week after an Organized Team Activity workout at the team’s practice facility. “I have a huge ceiling, and I haven’t reached the potential that I feel like I can reach yet, so I still feel young.”

At 24 years old, he is young. Yet he already has the advantage of three seasons of an important apprenticeship, something that hit home a few days after the draft.

“One of the rookies was like, ‘Hey, I’m 24,’ ” Williams said. “And I’m like, ‘Whoa, I’m 24, too.’ That was one of the weird things, like, I’m like, ‘Oh, man, I’m going into my fourth year at 24, and he’s a rookie at 24.’ ”

Williams didn’t name the player, although fourth-round rookie defensive lineman Michael Clemons of Texas Tech is 24.

For Clemons and the other Jets’ rookies, there is much to be learned. And while the same holds true for Williams, he is now looking to refine his game to the point where he can become a disruptive force on a weekly basis.

“There’s a lot of things I had to work on, just getting bigger, stronger, faster, getting the body-fat percentage down, working on different mechanics,” said Williams, who had six sacks last season. “Just trying to be a good football player in general and work my craft and just become the best player I can be.”

The Jets see the promise ahead for Williams, which is why they picked up his fifth-year option for 2023, meaning he’s under contract for at least another season and possibly years after that if they extend the current deal. And while some players might want to push the contractual envelope, Williams seems more concerned with the football – not the financial – implications of his future.

“I just believe [the] contract is going to handle itself,” he said. “Money is going to handle itself. I play this game for the love of the game first and foremost, so money’s not a big thing on my heart and my mind right now. I just want to be the best football player on the field that I can be, just one of the best football players and do the things I can do to help this team win in general, so when it comes down to contracts, that’s going to handle itself on its own. That’s in God’s hands.”

Williams comes from a long line of great college players at Alabama, having won a national championship in 2017 for Nick Saban and earning unanimous All-American status and first-team All-SEC in 2018. He ended his college career early in 2019 to enter the NFL Draft, and was Mike Maccagnan’s final first-round selection before he was replaced by Douglas.

Williams and C.J. Mosley are the only defensive starters left from that team. Williams knows there is much work to be done, but also believes there is sufficient talent to close the gap at the top of the AFC East, where the Bills are the clear favorites in the division and perhaps the conference’s leading Super Bowl contender.

“We have a huge gap to close in general, and everybody in the organization and everybody on the team knows that we have a huge gap to close,” he said. “It just all falls down to attacking every single day, doing the best you can do every single day and then stacking each day. And once you stack up each day, then there’s going to be an unbelievable result.”

Jets fans can only hope.

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

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.”