‘Future All-Pro’ Is Secret Sauce for Packers’ Game at Bears, Playoff Run

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Last week, the Minnesota Vikings honored six-time Pro Bowl safety Harrison Smith during the final moments of what might be his final game in the NFL.

“He does everything right, in the way that it’s supposed to be,” Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams said after the game. “He does it fast, violent, physical.”

To say Williams is on a similar Hall of Fame trajectory would obviously be premature, but the Packers believe Williams is a future All-Pro. The second-year standout will take center stage when the Packers begin the playoffs on Saturday night at the Chicago Bears.

“He’s a ballhawk and he’s got a nose for the football,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said this week. “He’s really intelligent, he can anticipate things. It’s like having another coach on the field.”

Williams smiled at the coach-on-the-field comment.

“I really just appreciate the trust and the faith that the coaches have in me to be able to get that communication around the horn. That’s really big for me,” Williams said this week. “That’s what I expect out of myself. I try to hold myself to the highest of expectations.

“As a safety, I feel like it’s in your job description to be able to communicate and make sure we’re all on the same page. Even if we’re all wrong, we’re all right. That’s something we say a lot. So, yeah, it’s part of my job. I’ll say that much. I definitely take pride in getting people aligned and ready for their assignment.”

More Than Intelligence

Williams isn’t on the field just because he’s smart. He’s one of the top players on one of the better defenses in the NFL. He led the team with three interceptions, was fourth with 89 tackles, tied for fifth with four passes defensed and tied for seventh with four tackles for losses.

This year, 40 players intercepted at least three passes. If you include Williams’ 11 tackles on special teams, he is one of only five players with 100 tackles and three interceptions. Adding one more layer, Williams is one of three players with 100 tackles, three interceptions and four tackles for losses.

Williams played in 16 games. The one game he missed was the Week 16 loss at Chicago.

Green Bay Packers linebacker Kristian Welch (54) and safety Evan Williams (33) tackle Chicago Bears receiver Devin Duvernay. | Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“I know he’s excited for it,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “It’ll be his second crack in the playoffs, and I think he’s ready to roll.”

The 111th pick of the 2024 draft, Williams started six games as a rookie. This year, he’s started 15 of 16 appearances.

“Just the maturity, the knowledge, the confidence,” Hafley said of Williams’ growth. “You can just see, he’s starting to see the game. He plays it so fast. He’s really instinctual. He knows the calls, he knows the defense, he’s got a really good feel for what other teams are trying to do.

“He calls out a lot of plays. He studies the down and distances, studies the formation tendencies, so he’s constantly talking with X (Xavier McKinney). I think it’s like having two coaches on the field, which is really, really helpful. I think there’s a big jump from Year 1 to Year 2 and I think he took it, and I think, eventually, people will see he’s one of the best safeties in this league.”

Hafley said the jump in confidence was evident when training camp began, and it’s carried through the season.

“You can see he triggers so much faster this year,” Hafley said. “There are times it looks like he might be blitzing, but he’s not. His ability to read and react and diagnose things, it’s very quick and he can get going and make those plays. You can kind of see it on his college film the way he played. He was one of our favorite guys, watching him when he was at Oregon, and I think he’ll continue to take those steps.”

Javon Bullard was a second-round pick in the same draft class and are two of the young team leaders.

“Yeah, he’s smart as hell, man,” Bullard said. “He’s smart. Smart guy. His intelligence to anticipate things before they happen is probably why he made so many plays with just knowledge of the game and being a student of the game. We came in together and we’ve grown together. I’ve leaned on him for things, he’s leaned on me for things, and that trust we have on the field is helping us play better ball.”

Williams Earns Respect from the Bears

The combo of Williams, who broke up a pass against Chicago in Week 14 that LaFleur believes should have been ruled a forced fumble, and McKinney has caught the attention of Bears coach Ben Johnson.

“I don't know if there's a better safety tandem right now this year,” he told reporters on Thursday. “These two guys, you just have to account for them. I think the safety position in general is one that it's rare you go into a game feeling like there's an impact player, and yet this particular week, these two guys are.

“They're all over the field. I think they're highly instinctive. They do a great job when the ball is in the air making plays. I know McKinney had all those interceptions last year. He did a great job with that. And then, I think it's been pretty cool to see Evan Williams just kind of grow over the course of his career to where he's an impact player for them now. We have to do our best to take them out of the running game because they're very active, they do a great job tackling.”

With Williams out of the lineup, the defense fell apart down the stretch of the loss at Chicago, then got trounced by Baltimore. If the Packers are going to beat the Bears and get on a playoff run, it will be up to that unit to rise to the occasion and make the game-changing plays that have slipped through their hands too often this season.

Williams will be a key in making it happen.

“There’s a bunch of games that I could tell you where we look dominant at times,” he said. “And I feel like every team in this league can give you examples of when they looked really dominant. But there’s a bunch of examples from this year where we’re playing our best ball and we make really good offenses look very mediocre.

“So, it’s about having that mental toughness and physical toughness to maintain that for 60 minutes. And it’s not an easy task by any means, but we feel like we got the guys to do it. We also understand it’s a new season, regardless of how the season ended. However the last few games ended, whatever injuries we have, it’s a new season. Everybody’s zero and zero right now. So, definitely looking forward to capitalizing on that opportunity.”

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More Than Intelligence

Williams Earns Respect from the Bears

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