‘Go Back and Watch Him Guard Christian Kirk’: Baalke and Pederson Detail Why the Jaguars Signed Darious Williams
The Jacksonville Jaguars made seven major additions this past week; with the start of free agency, the Jaguars spent more than any other franchise as they threw money to starters on both sides of the ball.
But why did the Jaguars make these specific additions? What stood out to them about each player added? Thanks to comments from general manager Trent Baalke and head coach Doug Pederson on Wednesday, we can answer those questions.
Next up, cornerback Darius Williams, who the Jaguars signed to a three-year, $30 million deal, with $18 million in guarantees. Williams, a Jacksonville native, will now join Tyson Campbell and Shaquill Griffin in the Jaguars' cornerback room.
So, why exactly did the Jaguars land on Williams in the cornerback room as opposed to other potential options on the market? To Baalke, it was a fairly simple decision to make.
"Well go back and watch him guard Christian Kirk. He's a good football player," Baalke said.
"He plays outside and plays inside. It makes that room as we saw last year. You know, when you get guys that get injured, you get thinned out. It gives a step, it gives us competition in that room that's going to make those other two guys fight for a position. We're going to keep doing that, we're going to keep adding good football players to every room in and get them as competitive as we can get them.
Williams has been predominantly an outside cornerback for the Rams, playing just over 100 snaps in the slot in his career. During that time, Williams appeared in 43 games and started 26, including 23 starts over the last two seasons.
But despite Williams' extensive experience as an outside cornerback as opposed to the slot, Baalke and Pederson don't see their new big-name and big-money cornerback as a player who will be restricted to one part of the field.
As Baalke went on to explain, the idea behind signing a cornerback wasn't to add a slot corner; it was to add the best player possible. In Williams, they believe they did just that.
"I think that's for him to determine, right? I think you bring him in, he's proven he can play outside, he's proven he can play inside, you're going to put ... when you're in base, there's two on the field, when you're a nickel, there's three, when you're dime, there could be four," Baalke said.
"So you're going to put the best two out there when you're in base. You're gonna put the best three out there when you're a nickel. What that combination is, again, that's up to the coaches, and that's up to the players, they got to earn that role.
"Well, that's the thing, and Trent's alluded to it, you know, his ability to play both inside and outside, right," Pederson agreed.
"And, again, it just makes that room stronger by adding a guy like Darious, to that room, competition is gonna be really exciting, not maybe so much throughout the OTAs, but once we get into camp when you put the pads on and stuff like that. And look, this game is so much 11 personnel right now, you know, with three receivers on the field that he's going to be on the field probably quite a bit with the other two. And that's something that we have to sort out, you know, this offseason."
There was another factor as to why the Jaguars ended up a match for Williams: home. Williams is a Jacksonville native who attended Bartram Trail High School and Creekside High School.
Now, Williams has a chance to suit up for his hometown NFL team, which is a chance few get. And it was a chance the Jaguars knew would appeal to Williams, who they attempted to sign for two days before officially doing so on Wednesday.
"I think the one that we were working on for, yeah, we were working on for 48 hours, you know, since the window started was Darious. And, you know, again, he chose to come here for a lot of reasons," Baalke said.
"You know, he had better situations in terms of dollars offered to him. And, you know, this was something that he was passionate about getting home. So we worked hard. We figured it out this morning how we could make it work and how we could make it fit. So we were able to get him."
