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Quinnen Williams doesn’t want to be compared to Rams DT Aaron Donald anymore. The Jets defensive tackle models his game after a different superstar defensive lineman – Eagles DT Fletcher Cox.
“[Cox is] just a mentor for me,” Williams said Friday. “I try to take everything from his game. Because he’s big. I compare myself to him all the time.”
While Donald is a great player to be associated with, it makes sense that Williams likens his game to Cox’s instead. Williams is 6-foot-3 and 303 pounds, while Cox is 6-foot-4 and 310 pounds. Their style of play is similar in terms of how they rush the quarterback and attack the run. Donald is quicker.
“I laugh with coaches and players on the field that my comparison coming out of college was Aaron Donald,” Williams said. “I’m like, ‘I cannot be Aaron Donald.’ Aaron Donald is, first of all, 6-1, 285 pounds, quick as lightning, super get-off, amazing pass rush and an all-around freak.
“I grew up watching Fletcher Cox do the things he [does], trying to imitate the stuff he’s doing coming out of high school and college.”
Cox has played in Philadelphia since the Eagles drafted him 12th overall in 2012 out of Mississippi State. He’s made six Pro Bowls over the past nine seasons and has 55 career sacks, 429 combined tackles, 137 QB hits and 13 forced fumbles. If there was anyone a young and aspiring defensive lineman should emulate, Cox is certainly among the best.
He and Williams spoke during the Jets and Eagles’ joint practices this past summer. Williams was eager to pick Cox’s brain.
“I got a chance to talk to him about his game and my game, stuff like that,” Williams said. “I had talked to him before that, but talking to him in pads and in his element was a dope experience.”
Williams is having a solid season himself in his third year with the Jets. The Alabama product has six sacks, 40 combined tackles and 12 QB hits in 2021.
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