Jets rookie still rises:
Alabama’s Quinnen Williams is proving on NFL practice fields that last year’s jump from obscurity is not a fluke.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – There are times when it’s obvious that Quinnen Williams is just 21.
The Jets’ No. 3 overall pick has a pregame ritual that includes eating about 10 Oreos: five the day before the game, five as he prepares to leave for the stadium.
“Just to get a little sugar rush,” Williams says.
In the spring, after he arrived at the Jets facility, Williams gushed about having the chance to meet new teammates Jamal Adams, Le’Veon Bell and Sam Darnold.
But when Williams stepped onto the field for his first training camp practices over the weekend, he felt like anything but a typical, wide-eyed rookie.
“I definitely came in feeling like I belong with them,” Williams told NorthJersey.com. “I definitely came in with the belief that I can play right next to them and I can play great with those guys, because that’s what they expect me to do.
“They just know that I hold them accountable just like they hold me accountable,” he said. “And they expect me to be where I’m supposed to be, (do it) how I’m supposed to do it and just play to the standard every day.”
Williams impressed his teammates during spring workouts with his football acumen and athleticism. And he seemed to pick up where he left off in his training camp debut, despite missing the first two practices before settling a contract dispute.
He didn’t get to the quarterback or stuff a run, working mostly with the second-team defense. But Williams left no doubt that he’s ready to play at this level.
“He didn’t make a ton of plays, but he did a lot of good stuff,” Jets coach Adam Gase said after watching the tape of Williams’ first practice. “The couple of times that he got free, it was just a half-second late. You can see that he’s going to have the opportunity to be a really good player for us and we just have to keep bringing him along. I mean that was day one for him. Every day that he comes out here he learns — that’s the thing about him. He learns so much so fast. So every rep is really good for him.”
“I can see myself getting better every day,” Williams said. “I can see the guys around me getting better every day. And just going against the great talent in the NFL, the great offensive line we’ve got, the great defensive leaders we’ve got are making me better and holding me accountable to the standard we want to play at on the defense.”
Sometimes, even Williams has a difficult time believing the journey he’s made from anonymity: A year ago, Williams was a largely unknown University of Alabama backup defensive lineman.
Now he’s a multimillionaire, and last weekend there were fans at practice wearing matching shirts with his smiling face on it.
“It’s amazing to me, man,” Williams said. “Just to see something like that, all the fans that came out here today, just to see a smile on their face just (from) seeing me. It’s just amazing to me man, anytime I go out and get recognized or people want to take a picture with me, because like when I was a kid, I see somebody I looked up to or follow on Instagram or something like that, I DM them and like ‘Bro, you’re the G.O.A.T., bro, I look up to you all the time.’ ”
Williams is also expanding his horizons off the field. Before getting drafted by the Jets, he’d never spent any time in New York or New Jersey. He’s played tourist at the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty in the last few months, but he’s also enjoyed the refuge of living and working in North Jersey because the relative quiet reminds him of his native Alabama.
On the field, he’s not worried about his role: As training camp goes on, those second-team reps could turn into more work with the first team. For now, he just wants to make sure he’s doing his job to the best of his ability and following the lead of his veteran teammates, especially veteran nose tackle Steve McLendon.
“He’s the veteran in the room and I play right behind him,” Williams said. “I play the same position as him. So he wants to make sure when he gets out of the game I’m playing just like him, and I expect the same way and I expect him to hold me to the same accountability.”