Leonard Williams doesn’t know who tore the gaping hole in the middle of his practice jersey at the end of the first day of training camp.
The Giants defensive lineman looked as if he had passed through a shredder or an animal had mauled the front of his jersey to get through to his robust chest. But Williams got a kick out of it and saw it as a positive side effect of some healthy competition. And, of course, he got a new practice jersey ahead of Day 2.
“Competition’s the culprit,” Williams quipped with a smile after the second day of training camp on Thursday at Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
“I mean it was kind of funny, like me and the D-line laughed about it. Some of my old college friends and the fans got a good laugh out of it and stuff like that. You know, I was joking around to the offensive line like, ‘Yeah, you guys have got to do all this to stop me.’ But you know, it’s friendly competition, and that type of stuff happens when you’re going full speed.”
Williams is heading into his third full season with the Giants after the Jets traded the 28-year-old to their crosstown rivals in October 2019 in exchange for a 2020 third-round pick and a 2021 fifth-round pick. Like everyone else, Williams is aiming for a rebound season under new management — head coach Brian Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen — and a new defensive system may be just what he needs.
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Despite recording a career-high 81 tackles last season, Williams went from 11.5 sacks in 2020 to just 6.5 in 2021. His tackles for a loss dipped from 14 to five, and his quarterback hits plummeted from 30 to 14. Still, the Giants placed the franchise tag on Williams for the second consecutive season before signing him to a three-year, $63 million deal, which includes $45 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $22.5 million last March.
“Well, it’s good to get to know him as a person,” Daboll said before the Giants took the field Thursday. “One, I thought he was a really good player. [He’s] got good length, causes issues inside, has power, has quickness, athletic, drafted high for a reason. Really, it’s just getting to know the person, and what a great person he is. Cares about his teammates. Smart football player. So, he’s a good guy to work with.”
The losses of defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson in free agency and linebacker Blake Martinez to an ACL injury certainly played a part in William’s performance last season. Martinez is back now, and rookie pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux is on the scene. Along with Williams, defensive tackles Dexter Lawrence and Justin Ellis are also projected starters.
Williams sounds as if he’s high on new defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, who led the Ravens’ defense to a top-three NFL ranking in points in three of his four seasons.
“Wink is a great coach,” Williams said. “I feel like this defense is doing a great job of coming together and being a unified defense, and I feel like that’s the most important thing with a defense with so many moving parts.”