The New York Giants selected Minnesota defensive back Chris Williamson with the 247th selection in this year’s draft, a compensatory pick they were awarded by the league earlier this year for losing more free agents than they signed last year.
Williamson was not really high on many teams’ radars because he is another one of those “tweeners” that teams can’t pigeonhole into a specific position.
The Giants seem to love those type of players as they’ve drafted and signed a slew of them this offseason. They call them “Swiss Army Knives” because they can be used for multiple purposes.
“This is a guy who’s going to have some combination corner to safety,” Giants head coach Joe Judge said. “We call it the star position, that nickel position as well. He’ll bring some position flexibility in the defensive backfield. He’s got a good size and speed combination. We look for him to compete at multiple positions this year.”
The one thing Williamson will have to do first is make an impact on special teams. Both Judge, the former special teams coordinator for the New England Patriots, and general manager Dave Gettleman put a lot of stock in the “teams” as they are known. Every player they draft or sign that isn’t considered a starter at their given position has to be able cut it on “teams” or play multiple positions.
Versatility is the theme on this Giants’ roster and Williamson, although an afterthought by many NFL teams, fits that mold for the Giants.
“The one thing a lot of teams talked to me about is my versatility,” said Williamson. “I have the ability to play multiple positions in the back end. Even with the Giants, they kind of talked about me doing the same thing of being able to do those multiple positions. But every team I talked to kind of had that same idea for me. I’d be a guy who’d kind of be like a Swiss Army Knife and can do multiple things on the back end.”
Ah, there’s that term again. Swiss…Army…Knife. By admission, though, Williamson told reporters he really hadn’t played a lot of safety recently in college.
“I didn’t get to play a whole bunch of safety. But actually I had a spring ball, actually when I was at Florida, where I did nothing but strictly safety. So, I’ve actually had the opportunity throughout my college career to practice at each position,” he said.
That’s good enough for the Giants, who are working with another of this year’s draftees, Oregon guard Shane Lemieux, hoping to mold him into an NFL-level center.
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