Greg Buttle on Jets First Round Pick: 'I Like Quinnen Williams'

Embattled Jets first round pick gets endorsement from legendary linebacker

Quinnen Williams has certainly drawn some criticism this year, the New York Jets first round pick being scrutinized for his lack of big numbers in his rookie season. In the eyes of Greg Buttle, however, it isn’t all about numbers. 

Taken third overall in April’s NFL Draft, Williams has done a good job this year and is certainly showing growth in recent weeks. The defensive tackle has 24 tackles and 1.5 sacks this year. Those aren’t necessarily numbers that jump out, especially when stacked against players like defensive end Josh Allen, taken by the Jacksonville Jaguars later in the first round. 

But Allen, an edge rusher, is expected to have big numbers. Williams has a different role playing in the interior of the line. That doesn’t mean, however, that he can’t get to the quarterback, a point that Buttle said makes him intriguing in the Jets defense. 

At Alabama, he was a finalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, given by the Maxwell Football Club to the nation’s top defensive player. His final year at Alabama, he had 70 tackles (18.5 tackles for a loss with seven sacks). The potential is there for him to be a pocket closing pass rusher from the interior of the line. 

On Williams, Buttle is bullish and not buying into all the negativity associated with the lack of big numbers. It isn’t easy to be a high draft pick as an interior defensive lineman, he said, but Buttle thinks that Williams is doing well as a rookie. 

“All you can do is guess. There’s nobody that knows anything, you can guess pretty much. You can say ‘I think this kid is going to be good.’ I think he has a lot of upside – as I do,” Buttle told Sports Illustrated’s Jets Maven. 

“I like Quinnen Williams, I think he’s a good selection. Whether he was a great selection, you’re not going to know until a five-year period. It’s not necessarily quarterback sacks. Quarterback pressures are huge. Quarterback hits are bigger. Sacks, you may not get many a year. One a game? That’s 16 a year! That is Hall of Fame material if you do that. Quarterback pressures, you get me those. I like the guy.” 

Buttle, now an analyst on radio and television, played nine years for the Jets starting in 1976. He remains a fan favorite, the former third round pick out of Penn State a tenacious and attacking outside linebacker who was a key part of a fearsome Jets defense during his era. 

The difficulty in judging Williams is his role. A defensive tackle is a unique position, a space eater who bottles things up in run defense and takes on multiple blockers to free up blitzers in pass situations. 

This role isn’t necessarily situated for big numbers and highlight plays. It is a grinder’s role, and one that isn’t always appreciated at that. 

“We have to stop the run, we need a defensive tackle to do that, Well, I don’t know if you have to draft him fourth in the draft. I think there is a lot of opportunity to get someone there. But if you can get a quality defensive lineman who can rush the passer, who ability, who has good hands and good hips and projects that ‘Hey, this guy is quick.’ I think that you could draft that guy,” Buttle said.  

“I think you can draft that guy and I think Quinnen Williams is a guy like that. I don’t look at him as a typical defensive tackle that you put down on the field. There’s plenty of defensive tackles in the history of this league – from [Joe] Klecko on down – who have been able to rush the passer and do it well. If that’s what you think he can do, I’m all for it. But I don’t think just taking a defensive tackle is the right thing to do. I do think he can rush the passer…The kid is young, coming from Alabama and leaving early…Man, I’ll tell you something, people don’t understand what it is like. It is like fighting people in a phone booth on the defensive line. It’s a different game in college. College is a totally different makeup [in terms of the] game.”