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With the Baltimore Ravens revamping their defensive line this offseason, Brandon Williams is slated to slide back inside and play nose tackle again. For Williams, he believes playing in the middle of the defensive line is a return to his “natural habitat.”
“I’m pretty much back home, playing what I know, playing what I’m naturally used to doing all the time,” Williams said when asked about going back to nose tackle this season.
The Ravens added Calais Campbell via trade and Derek Wolfe in free agency this offseason. It’s hoped the two new additions will bring some more consistency to Baltimore’s defensive line, something of a sore point for the team in recent years. Not only are Campbell and Wolfe proven run stuffers, but they also offer upside as interior pass rushers — something the Ravens haven’t had since Haloti Ngata’s prime nearly a decade ago.
While the additions of Campbell and Wolfe are great, Williams being “back home” could be the biggest boost to Baltimore’s run defense this season. Pushed into more of a hybrid defensive tackle/end role after signing his mega-contract in 2017, Williams was expected to offer more of a pass-rushing presence after showing some promise there through his first four years in the NFL. Unfortunately, that never really materialized while the team’s run defense suffered.
In Williams’ first three seasons as a starter at nose tackle (2014-2016), he accounted for 151 combined tackles, 15 tackles for a loss, eight quarterback hits, and 3.5 sacks. In the three years to follow in that hybrid role, Williams has just 98 combined tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, eight quarterback hits, and two sacks. The effect on the entire defense has been immense, with the Ravens allowing seven more rushing touchdowns over the last three years than in the previous three.
After a defensive history of being impossible to run against, Baltimore struggled there at times last season. In 2019, the Ravens allowed 100-plus rushing yards in nine of their 17 total games. All of their three losses featured their opponent rushing for at least 140 yards while that terrible playoff loss against the Tennessee Titans topped the chart at 217 rushing yards.
Now, Williams goes back to nose tackle where he was a much more impressive force for Baltimore, and he couldn’t be any more excited.
“I’m back in my natural habitat,” Williams continued. “I’m ready to take on double teams, go against centers again, reek havoc in the middle.”
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