Jets HC Adam Gase praises versatility, talent of Quinnen Williams

The New York Jets are getting a disruptive, dominant defender in No. 3 overall pick Quinnen Williams, and head coach Adam Gase is well aware.

Williams was a one-man wrecking crew at Alabama last season, making the most of his first year as a starter. He went from little-known freshman to breakout sophomore, becoming arguably the best overall prospect in the 2019 NFL draft.

As rookie minicamp kicked off earlier this week, Gase made it clear he’s expecting big things from their top pick:

"The push up the middle is going to be big for us, especially in this division."

— New York Jets (@nyjets) May 10, 2019

Anytime you have a guy that we see as a really talented player, a guy that put a lot of good tape out there his last year in college, and add that to the group we already have, I think it’s really going to be something that could help our defense, especially up the middle. The push up the middle is going to be big for us, especially in this division.

Gase is particularly excited about how Williams’ versatile skill set will allow him to be deployed in a variety of ways under defensive coordinator Gregg Williams:

With the way Gregg [Williams, defensive coordinator] does things, he’ll play a lot of different spots. Nobody’s really set in one area where you say he’ll always be on the left, always be on the right, always be at 3 or nose. Gregg moves these guys around so much, it’s really hard to pinpoint them. But we’ll have a good mix of personnel groupings with those guys.

With young talents like Leonard Williams and Jamal Adams already entrenched in the core of the Jets’ defense, and the addition of key free agents like C.J. Mosley, adding a premier talent like the younger Williams could be the missing piece that puts this unit in the conversation among the league’s best for 2019 and beyond.