The Giants And Jets Make Their First Ever Trade With The Jets Shipping Leonard Williams To The Giants For Two Draft Picks
Uhhhhh, OK. Sure? I don't think Leonard Williams being trading is all that much of a surprise considering there were as many rumors flying around the internet about him being shopped as anyone else now that the NFL has trade bonanzas like all the other sports. But it's still wild to see the Giants and Jets make their first ever trade for a guy that was as hyped out of college as Leonard Williams was and it's crazy that the Giants in essence traded two draft picks for simply the rights to negotiate a new (and likely pretty hefty) contract with a guy that was going to be a free agent after the season was over. But trying to figure out the method to Dave Gettleman's madness is a chore I stopped doing a long time ago and instead I am just going to pray he doesn't have say any dumb Gettlemanisms that drives the entire fanbase crazy.
The bottom line is that Leonard Williams can be a stud and if he becomes exactly that while wearing blue, we won't care about what kind of draft capital was given up to get him in the building. The Giants unofficial team motto for years was Cause Havoc On The Defensive Line, which has very much not been the case here for a while. And if the Giants thought this was the best way to fix a glaring weak spot on their team instead of using those picks or waiting until free agency, you have to hope they are right. Sure Williams has been a disappointment to the level of the Jets giving up on him before his rookie contract was over. But if you look at the PFF numbers, Williams has been able to make tackles on the interior line at the level of almost any player in the league during his time in the NFL (including a couple of guys that used to play for the Giants)
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Again, those stats are just the cold, hard PFF numbers. If you want some eye test stuff from a professional idiot, I personally like having at least one defensive with hair popping out of their helmet during the cold weather games because it always makes me feel like the defense is at least 10% better than it actually is. That's probably all solely due to Kawika Mitchell being one of my favorite linebackers of the last 15 years, which is admittedly not the hardest list to make. But between the hair stuff and the Giants for once being the team that is getting the disgruntled player that may have extra motivation instead of the other way around, I have to admit I'm excited about the trade, especially since the Giants should get a compensatory third rounder back for the Landon Collins signing and (hopefully) will get more draft capital back by being sellers before the trade deadline hits.
People will debate who the winners and losers are of this trade, but the biggest winner in my eyes is Leonard Williams. He doesn't have to move, learn a new city, or probably get a new keycard for Sundays, which is pretty much the biggest win any Giant or Jet has had in years. People will hammer the Giants because every move by Big Blue is met with GettLOLman responses. But considering the guy that was here before him, I'm willing to let Gettleman finish up his roster before deciding what was good or bad.
This fun fact is downright Reeseian.
Don't believe me. Look at this.
And THAT'S how you build two teams that have been picking in the Top 10 the last couple years and are on pace to to do it yet again this spring!
I don't know what Leonard Williams will do now that he's changing locker rooms at MetLife. But I do know that I love watching YouTube college mixtapes that can turn any player into a Hall of Famer, no matter what his first few years in the NFL looked like.
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If you aren't sold on Williams yet, I think this video will do the trick.
All in. See you in Canton in 15 years, Leonard!