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Why You Should Be Excited for Shawn Williams


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Why You Should Be Excited for Shawn Williams by David Petrocelli 5h ago

 

When veteran safety Taylor Mays chose to reunite with Mike Zimmer in Minnesota this offseason, he left a spot open in the defense.  Although Mays wasn’t utilized enough in my opinion, he was occasionally employed in a nickel backer role over the past couple of seasons.  This was especially true in 2013 when the Bengals were desperate for a linebacker after both Emmanuel Lamur and Sean Porter suffered season-ending shoulder injuries during the preseason.

Former defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer chose to get creative with the defense and began giving Mays a crash course in playing linebacker.  Mays eventually became the teams primary nickel linebacker alongside Vontaze Burfict; he played 202 snaps in half a season that year before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury of his own.  He did well to ameliorate Cincinnati’s poor defense against tight ends even given the extremely short time span he had to acquaint himself with his new position.

Mays’ success in this role with Zimmer is likely the reason he chose to exit Cincinnati to reunite with his former defensive maestro.  It’s likely that fans won’t really feel the impact of his loss, but personally I believe the team missed an opportunity to really watch Mays flourish in the role by not employing him enough. But regardless of this opinion, Mays’ exit leaves a small, albeit important role in the defense vacant and it seems logical that third-year safety Shawn Williams steps up in 2015.

Williams came to the Bengals via a third-round selection in the 2013 NFL Draft. He was seen as a promising strong safety out of Georgia who had worked his way into a starting role in the same way he is with the Bengals, via the special teams unit. His draft stock may have taken a hit at the time due to his billing as a non-impressive athlete (though it should be noted his combine numbers weren’t bad by any means), yet respected draft analyst Gil Brandt had some nice praise for Williams at the time.

He is a fiery player who shows his intense demeanor through actions; you only need to watch a single highlight reel before you get the point regarding his hitting ability.


 

“Williams is not a good-looking athlete, but the best way to describe him is as a “football player,”

 

meaning that while he doesn’t work out well he does shine when it’s 11-on-11 on the field.”

But Williams’ intensity doesn’t end there. Shawn Williams isn’t afraid to be vocal.  He certainly isn’t afraid of letting his teammates know when the effort and production isn’t there and isn’t shy about letting opponents know where he’s at either.

As for Shawn Williams’ skill set, he came to the NFL as a capable “box” safety.  He may have needed some refining in terms of ensuring tackles versus focusing on delivering the big hits, but he was more than capable in this situation.  He also is a capable blitzer and has the ability to read and react to plays.

The problem for Williams was his coverage ability.  During his rookie season, Mike Zimmer seemed to be hard on Williams, yet expressed optimism in Williams’ ability to grow in coverage.  Although he hasn’t had much of an opportunity to display any improvement yet due to the stellar play of Reggie Nelson and George Iloka, Williams improved in this area during his rookie offseason, and has since enticed Marvin Lewis enough to be labeled as a player he’d like to see more of in the coming season.

Shawn Williams has done an excellent job to date of doing all he can to earn a spot on the defense.  The Bengals already had a stellar free safety in Nelson and an emerging strong safety in Iloka when Williams arrived in town.  Iloka’s emergence kept Williams at bay, yet Williams has grown in one of the more prolific special teams players in the NFL and has been lauded by special teams coach Darrin Simmons.  Over the past two years, Williams has played on 81.5% of the Bengals’ special teams snaps and is likely to become the next captain of the unit once a spot is vacated by either Cedric Peerman and/or Vincent Rey.

This offseason should prove to be an exciting one for Shawn Williams.  If he can prove he’s improved enough in coverage, he’ll likely earn time playing on defense in the nickel backer role.  Unlike Mays, Williams won’t nearly surrender as much against the run as the more capable “box” safety between the two, yet it remains to be seen if Williams can cover tight ends and running backs as well as Mays did.

Having the opportunity to add Williams’ kind of intensity, leadership, and work ethic to the defense should have fans rooting for him in anticipation of seeing what he can do “when it’s 11-on-11 on the field.”

 

 

http://stripehype.com/2015/04/24/why-you-should-be-excited-for-shawn-williams/

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It's impossible to know as fans what we've got with Shaun Williams because he's barely played on defense.

 

The coaches have been pumping out a lot of sunshine about him. It could be entirely true as it was with a guy like George Iloka who came somewhat out of nowhere to become a very good starter. Or it could be a major smokescreen like when the Bengals talked up Brandon Tate and Armon Binns before the NFL draft and then ended up grabbing both Sanu and Jones.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if they're putting some of this stuff out there about Williams to throw teams off their scent a little bit when it comes to how much they love Landon Collins...

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It's impossible to know as fans what we've got with Shaun Williams because he's barely played on defense.

 

The coaches have been pumping out a lot of sunshine about him. It could be entirely true as it was with a guy like George Iloka who came somewhat out of nowhere to become a very good starter. Or it could be a major smokescreen like when the Bengals talked up Brandon Tate and Armon Binns before the NFL draft and then ended up grabbing both Sanu and Jones.

 

Wouldn't surprise me if they're putting some of this stuff out there about Williams to throw teams off their scent a little bit when it comes to how much they love Landon Collins...

 

The Armon Binns stuff was no smoke screen. I know for a fact coaches were genuinely excited about his prospects. I never got the scoop on how that whole thing turned out, but obviously he didn't pan out. I also know they have never viewed Tate as anything but a serviceable bench player they would be happy to move on from, but as of yet opportunity has not afforded it.

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It's impossible to know as fans what we've got with Shaun Williams because he's barely played on defense.

 

 

Yep. Until we see something there is no reason to have a thought one way or the other on it. Judgement can only be based on what we have seen, and we havent seen much of anything from him.

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Yep. Until we see something there is no reason to have a thought one way or the other on it. Judgement can only be based on what we have seen, and we havent seen much of anything from him.

 

 

it didn't stop people from fawning all over Lamur this time last year when he had 107 career snaps..

 

 

 

Now everyone hates him.

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I'm so glad none of you run our team. I'm always amazed at how quickly you folks decide no one ever gets any better with experience. I guess that's why Iloka still sucks, Reggie Nelson is still the same safety he was in Jacksonville, and James Harrison never became shit. But hey, you guys are the smart ones.
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Don't hate him. But he's garbage. Rated the worst outside linebacker in football last year.


Thanks for proving my point.


Thank u for joining the Lawson sucks bandwagon which I started last year. I now its only one game but Lamur has it, which Lawson and Maualuga don't. Next year, SLB Lamur, MLB Teo, WLB Burfict.

I love the fact that Burfict and Lamur are our nickel backers hell yes.

Well put him on the line as a de on third down then . There's no way a guy that's played rolb in a 3-4 is ready to play lb as a nickel backer. We need Lamur out there I think he's the best we got against the pass

Those two guys have no business playing as nickel backers. They got to put in Burfict and Lamur as nickel backers. Bengals are going to learn the hard way.

One guy I'm really excited about is Lamur. He played well on third down last year and with a full year under his belt he should be improved. Lamur and Burfict could be our nickel backers.Dline of Dunlap , MJ, Atkins and Harrison/Still/Gilberry in the mix as well.

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I thought Lamur looked great at training camp practices and preseason of 2013 before the injury. Thought he'd be an above average starter in 2014 but he struggled most of the time, especially when Burfict was out. He was also forced into a role he wasn't built for because we were decimated by injuries and exposed a bit. That happens when you lose your top 2 LBs for long stretches. The same thing happened with Wallace Gilberry and Vinny Rey when they were forced to be almost every down players at times last year due to depth issues. 

 

Lamur was still basically a rookie last season as it was his first extended playing time. With another year under his belt, put out there with Burfict who helps get everybody lined up and don't force him to play too many snaps, and I think he can be a nice contributor. I think Gilberry could bounce back as well once he's used in a way he's better suited. 

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