Last season, Quinnen Williams blossomed into the wrecking ball many knew he could become. As the arguable centerpiece of an elite New York Jets defense, Williams routinely gobbled up interior offensive lines en route to his first career First-Team All-Pro selection. At this point, the only drawback remaining from labeling Williams the NFL’s official best interior pass rusher is stacking these kinds of prolific campaigns together.
But even that reality seems inevitable. As such, Williams has picked an ideal time to leverage himself into a monster and historic contract for a defensive tackle — right after the Jets went all in by trading for Aaron Rodgers.
Some of us play checkers. Williams clearly plays chess.
This weekend, amidst negotiations for a Jets extension, Williams changed his Twitter profile to an ambiguous “Defensive Tackle for …”
Quinnen Williams’ twitter bio no longer says “Jets” — presumably, a commentary on the state of his contract negotiations. #Jets pic.twitter.com/v6RmgIBiiy
— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) May 15, 2023
He obviously left the Jets out to throw his NFL future into question. It’d be one thing if Williams were publicly pressing New York like this in a run-of-the-mill offseason. The two sides would probably cede little ground for a few months, Williams might hold out from the early portions of training camp, and he’d probably eventually relent come late summer.
But with the Jets pushing their chips in on a Super Bowl run by acquiring a quarterback like Rodgers, Williams understands they are incentivized to keep their franchise defensive player happy. Even with an approximate $6 million in team cap space per Over The Cap, the Jets ironically can’t afford to leave Williams hanging out to dry in a contract year. They already proved they could do some necessary salary cap finessing by fitting Rodgers’ massive contract onto their books. With Williams wanting a reported historic $25-30 million average annual value (AAV), he rightfully expects New York to follow a similar precedent and find a way to offer a 25-year-old franchise player with more upside the security he’s earned.
The Jets, in essence, ruined their own bargaining position with Williams by moving mountains for Rodgers’ $59.4 million cap hit in 2023.
From the Jets’ perspective, they might be understandably apprehensive about rewarding Williams so early after such a small sample size. While he was a Galaxy Destroyer in 2022 with 12 sacks and 28 quarterback hits, Williams’ production in his first three NFL seasons barely matched those numbers combined. While I personally wouldn’t bet on it, there is always a potential scenario where Williams doesn’t incinerate offensive game plans by himself after getting a Brinks truck of cash.
However, after already using Williams’ fifth-year option and neglecting to use the franchise tag on him, the Jets aren’t in a position to play standard hardball. They could, theoretically, wait until next year to tag Williams, but I have a hard time believing he enters 2023 willingly without some ensured stability. That would not be good business with the team’s best non-quarterback on its roster.
In any other year, the Jets could say, “Let’s see more.” In a spring where they’re preparing for a deep run in January (and ideally February), Williams knows he has Gang Green backed into a corner. They know it, too.
If the Jets don’t pay Williams now, they risk alienating one of pro football’s premier talents. Hats off to the superstar defensive tackle for waiting to strike after they traded for a future Hall of Fame quarterback.