Giants DL Leonard Williams looking for bounce-back season
New York Giants defensive lineman Leonard Williams (99) during training camp in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, August 7, 2022. Credit: Noah K. Murray
The respect for Leonard Williams went up last season when he played through a serious right triceps injury at the end of the year. It’s one of the reasons why he was named a captain of the defense this week.
The production for Williams went down last year, though. For a number of reasons, the injury included, the defensive lineman’s sack numbers and quarterback hits dipped quite a bit from 2020 when he had a career-best 11.5 and 30 of them, respectively. He wound up with a career-high 81 tackles in 2021, but just 6.5 sacks and 14 quarterback hits. It was good enough to be the only Giants player on the NFL Network’s annual list of the top 100 (he came in 97th), but a dropoff nonetheless.
“It’s hard to pinpoint one thing that goes into sack numbers or pass rushing numbers,” Williams said on Wednesday. “Sometimes if you are in the second half and down by a few scores the other team is going to run the ball and you’re not going to have many opportunities. If there are not in as many third-and-long situations. There is a lot I can look at from last year and see why.”
When he looks ahead to this year, though, he says “why not?” Why can’t he bring those all-important pressure numbers back to where they were?
“I think those numbers are going to go up,” he said.
He makes that claim even as he is dealing with another injury, this time to his left elbow. He’s been wearing a brace on the arm for the past few weeks since suffering the injury just before the preseason games began and he may wind up wearing it into the season, too. He does not, however, expect it to interfere with his streak of 112 straight regular-season games played without ever missing one due to injury.
“I’m gonna be fine in Week 1,” he said. “I’m practicing now and it feels ready to go … It feels strong. I’m able to go and do everything that we are required to do as a d-lineman in full pads and all that stuff. I’m not going to miss any games because of it.”
Nor, he said, will it encumber his new responsibilities as a captain. He even thinks the injury and the brace “improve” his case for that job.
Said Williams: “I’m out here doing it with it.”
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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