You can say what you want about New York Giants defensive lineman Leonard Williams but you can’t ever question his dedication.
The fiasco the Giants created by needlessly trading for Williams midseason a few years back paired with their inability to get them under contract is all behind him now. His 11.5-sack performance last year, which led to a $63 million extension this past spring, solidified his standing as one of the team’s leaders.
Many times when a player signs a sizable contract extension they have a down year statistically. That’s happened to Williams as his sack total is only half of what it was last year, but stats don’t always tell the whole story.
The Giants put additional pressure on Williams by allowing the steady Dalvin Tomlinson to walk via free agency. That has led to more reps for Williams, which is not ideal for a defensive lineman.
But Williams has stepped up and took on the extra responsibility. It had gone largely unnoticed until the the past few weeks as he’s played through an elbow/triceps injury that would have sent lesser men to injured reserve.
Since sustaining the injury, Williams has played 65 and 71 percent of the defensive snaps, respectively, over the past two games. That’s a trooper.
“I think the coaches just know that I’ve been dinged up and struggling with it. They know I want to finish the season, though. I want to finish the season with my team,” Williams told reporters this week.
“So, I’ve obviously been limited throughout the week. I come in for treatment in the morning, stay for treatment after practice and stuff like that. During practice, I’m getting a lot more rotation. Coach is putting me in for things that might be new install or things that I might need to know for the week. If it’s something that we’ve been going over all season, they’ll kind of let some of the younger guys fill in the role while I’m trying to rest my arm a little bit. During the game, I just make sure I tape it up, take some Tylenol and stuff like that. Just try to fight through it.”
Williams was asked if surgery was in his future on Thursday. He admits he’ll try to avoid that.
“I don’t think so. I think I’m going to be able to just work the small muscles around it, keep getting treatment,” Williams said. “Personally, I would like to avoid surgery at all costs, regardless of the injury. That’s from personal experience and also from what I’ve heard around the league from vets when I came in as a younger guy — ‘if you can avoid surgery, do it.’
“It’s because I had two shoulder labrum tears in college. One I got surgery on and one I didn’t, and I still feel the effects of the one I got surgery on. It feels like every once in a while, it clicks or like the screws that are in there just kind of bother me and stuff like that. Whereas the other one that I tore, I kind of just did a lot of treatment and rehab on it and worked the small muscles that make it stronger and this one feels a lot better now.”
Williams has always been dedicated. Since the Jets added him the sixth overall selection in the 2015 NFL draft, Williams had missed just two of a possible 112 games.
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