Green Bay Packers: 3 Defensive Linemen to Target in Free Agency

Leonard Williams

While back at the trade deadline finding a receiver was a top priority of many Green Bay Packers’ fans, Leonard Williams was available and would have been one heck of an addition. Alas, things didn’t work out at that time but now as a pending free agent, Green Bay has another opportunity if they choose to pursue him.

During his five-year career, Williams has been extremely durable having missed just one game during that span. He’s also shown that he can be effective both as a run-stopper and in terms of getting after the quarterback.

According to Pro Football Focus, over his career Williams has averaged 50.8 total pressures per season with 4.4 sacks. For some context, let’s take a look at Kenny Clark’s last two seasons, which have been his best. In those same categories, Clark has averaged 57.2 pressures and 7.5 sacks a season. Over a longer period of time, Williams isn’t too far off.

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Meanwhile in the run game, Williams was credited with just 21 run stops in 2019, which was a career low, but had averaged over 34 during the previous four seasons. Once again to compare to Clark’s last two years, he has an average of 40.

By these comparisons it is easy to see that Williams has been very good over the course of his entire career up to this point, and at only 25-years-old, he still has plenty of gas left in the tank. I mean, could you imagine Williams and Clark lined up next to each other?

As far as what it would cost to land Williams, Spotrac is projecting that he lands a five-year contract worth $8.2 million on average per year. So while it’s a bit more modest than Reader, as you’d expect, Williams still won’t be cheap.