2023 NFL Draft: How Would Syracuse CB Garrett Williams Fit With the Jaguars?

Despite a torn ACL in October, Garrett Williams has the talent to be a potential big get for the Jaguars.

Author:
John Shipley
Publish date:
Apr 17, 2023 4:46 PM EDT

The 2023 NFL Draft season is upon us.

Among the 32 teams building their rosters to compete for the next Lombardi Trophy is the Jacksonville Jaguars, who hold nine picks in this season’s draft -- including the No. 24 overall pick.

As we march closer and closer to April’s draft, we will look at individual draft prospects and how they would potentially fit with the Jaguars. Instead of looking at any negatives, we are going to look at what the players do well and if they could match what the Jaguars need at the specific role or position.

Overview

Rated a three-star recruit by 247 Sports, Williams was ranked the No. 171 cornerback in the 2019 recruiting class and the No. 75 recruit in North Carolina. Williams received 13 offers out of high school, including from Army, Appalachian State, Air Force, Campbell, Charleston Southern, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, East Carolina, Furman, Maryland, Syracuse, West Virginia.

Williams appeared in four games as a freshman before starting 11 games in 2020. He recorded 64 tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack, two interceptions, and 12 pass deflections, earning Freshman All-American honors and Honorable Mention All-ACC after he lead the conference in pass deflections.

Williams returned as a starter in 2021, starting 10 games and recording 52 tackles, five tackles for loss, and 10 pass deflectons. He was named Honorable Mention All-ACC for the second year in a row.

Williams (5-foot-11, 192 pounds) started seven more games in 2022, recording 36 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, two interceptions and five pass deflections as a team captain. He suffered a torn ACL injury in October, leading to him missing Syracuse's final six games.

What Garrett Williams Does Well

It is impossible not to be impressed by Garrett Williams' ball skills and how he plays the ball in the air. 27 pass breakups in 28 games doesn't just happen overnight; Williams does an excellent job of tracking the ball while keeping maintaining leverage in coverage, attacking the ball with perfectly timed swats at the catch point and to cut off the passes. Williams only recorded four interceptions in his 28 starts, but he has better ball skills than those numbers suggest.

Williams has the ability to play both man and zone coverage thanks to smooth footwork. He rarely false steps in coverage, showing the ability to both sink his hips and break on outside and underneath routes and also the ability to flip his hips and run with receivers downfield. He has lightning-quick reaction speed, especially when driving from off coverage.

As a tackler, Williams shows more tenacity than one would expect in a cornerback of his stature. He drives through the hip of ball-carriers, attacks screens and blockers at the line of scrimmage, and takes good angles to the ball. He also has special teams coverage experience, showing good physicality and play-speed.

How Garrett Williams Would Fit With the Jaguars

It isn't surprising to see the Jaguars bring in Williams for a top-30 visit for a number of reasons. For one, Jaguars general manager Trent Baalke has likely seen a ton of film on him dating back to when he watched Syracuse's defense during the 2021 draft process. Secondly, teams routinely bring injured players in for top-30 visits so they can have their own medical teams take a close look.

Baalke has taken players with ACL injuries after they slide in the draft throughout his career as a general manager, doing so most recently with Andre Cisco in 2021.

"What we do is risk-reward at a lot of different levels, whether sometimes it’s character, sometimes it’s injury, sometimes it’s position changes. There’s risk-reward in what we do, and you have to vet it," Baalke said after the Jaguars took Cisco. You have to do the best job you can, which if you shy away from it, you lose a lot of options on draft day.

“I wish it was easy. I carry a big coin in my pocket and I flip it. You don’t know. Again, every case is so much different, every injury. You look at one ACL and a guy comes back last year. A young man got injured in December, came back at the same position, came back and started 15 games this year for one of our conference opponents. So, it happens, and how quickly they come back, again, [is] independent of one another.”

As a pure player, Williams makes sense considering what the Jaguars have looked at in outside cornerbacks in the past. Williams doesn't have much -- if any -- experience in the slot and projects best as an outside cornerback despite his lack of size and strength. What Williams does have, though, is terrific instincts in coverage and the ability to trail and close on receivers at a hyper-efficient level whether in man or zone coverage.

If the Jaguars feel confident opening the season with Tre Herndon in the slot, then Williams makes sense as an addition. The Jaguars need long-term depth behind Darious Williams, and that is exactly what they would get with Williams.

Verdict

Based on pure talent alone, Williams is a Day 2 type of player. He is a top-notch off-man and zone coverage corner who has shown high-end quickness, tackling ability, ball skills, and football intelligence.

The question with Williams is, of course, his ACL injury. He would potentially be a top-50 pick without the injury, but the timing of it will likely push him down boards some. This happened with another Syracuse defensive back in 2021 in Andre Cisco., who went on to be an early third-round pick for the Jaguars and established himself as a playmaker in 2022.

Williams is worth a similar type of gamble. Taking him in the third-round would be a tough fit value-wise, but it would make sense if the Jaguars are sold on his recovery. Taking him in the fourth-round, however, would be a solid pick by all definitions.

For all of our 2023 NFL Draft profiles, click below.