Pads don't add to practice for Giants' Leonard Williams
Leonard Williams, left, stands alongside Dexter Lawrence II during the first day of training camp at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on Wednesday. Credit: James Escher
On Tuesday evening, seven days after the start of training camp, the pads came on.
This is where the offensive and defensive linemen shine. Or at least have a chance to.
For Leonard Williams and his fellow defensive linemen, it’s personal.
They go into every meeting talking about setting a tone. They walk onto the practice field — we’re talking about practice — determined to impose their will.
“That’s something the D-line takes pride in,” Williams said Tuesday afternoon. “We always talk about being the engine of the defense and the engine of the team. I think that’s something our team prides itself on, and that’s winning up front on both sides of the ball.”
They may have to conquer the Eagles and Cowboys in their division to prove that they can do that in 2023. But those games are weeks and months away. For Williams personally, it’s almost as if he has some atoning to do.
During the 2022 season, he missed games, five of them, for the first time in his career because of a neck injury.
“That’s something I pride myself on, being healthy and being durable. Being ready to go when called upon,” the 29-year-old Williams said. “This offseason, I definitely focused a lot on my body, knowing that I am getting a little bit older and I have to apply myself more in the training room. And that’s going to be important for me going forward.”
When the pads come on, there is no doubt the physicality of any practice is amped up. But through the years, Williams’ thinking on that subject has evolved.
“When I was younger, [even] a year or two ago, that first day of pads was super rah-rah,” he said. “Everybody was getting super excited, getting ready to run into each other again.”
Those days may not be gone, but Williams suggested they could be fewer and further between than previous years.
Why, you may ask?
Because the goal is to get ready to take on opponents during the regular season, “not to beat up teammates on the training camp field,” Williams said. “We’ve been working on technique and taking care of each other as a team pretty well and competing pretty well so far. I don’t want any of that stuff to go out the window now that pads are on and now just go full speed and lose technique just to make big hits.”
Taking care of teammates on the practice field has been a focus for coach Brian Daboll.
Daboll said before Tuesday’s practice that he wants players “to have mutual respect for each other” on the practice field. He also wants to keep players healthy, of course.
Williams understands. He believes healthy players can more easily focus on not losing fundamentals and technique. "[We want to] still care about each other because we’re going to need everybody.”
On Tuesday, the defensive line got a lift when Rakeem Nuñez-Roches, acquired in free agency, rejoined the team. He missed several days after being involved in a car accident close to the Giants' facility.
“It was great to see him back,” Williams said. “I’m glad nothing happened to him during that accident. But, also, he’s a great guy to bring into this building, to bring into this defense. He has great energy and so far, he’s been playing the run really well. I think he’s going to be a great addition on the defensive line.”
Nuñez-Roches signed with the Giants in free agency. He has the reputation of being a great run-stopper.
Asked what he will bring to the team, he said: “Just juice. Discipline, technique. That’s the biggest thing. Putting on pads doesn’t really change the foundation of me, it just keeps me a bigger surface to grab. Other than that, just come in here, stop the run, just having the attitude and the will to do so. That’s what I bring to the team.”
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
