DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2019 NFL Season 2019 NFL Draft Browns pick Greedy Williams 46th overall

I think you can bank on the fact there will be a lot of press coverage and some zone. Wilks, like every D-coord, will mix it up to suit his personnel while attempting to misdirect and create mismatches depending on circumstances and down and distance. This will be a much more interesting discussion in retrospect once we see how Wilks applies the schemes and how well the players play to those schemes.

JMHO

Good post that is logical.

I am not going to predict what we will do in regards to coverage because I really don't know. I just like to look at things logically and I find discussing the topic is more fun than making predictions.

I brought all of this up because I saw multiple posts on multiple threads across two forums suggesting that we would play a lot of Press-Man. I decided to do some research and shared my results.

I hope it's okay if others talk about it? The other day, you made a post about people not talking football. Well, I think discussing coverages is talking football.

Thanks for looking that up. Good info.

Norman is a very good cover corner, but the overall list isn't very impressive.

I didn't mention Peterson because I read somewhere that when he was hired, Wilks said he wasn't going to change Arizona's defense. I know he runs a 4-3 and the Cards ran a 3-4 before he got there. I have no idea what their primary coverage was. I didn't pursue it because I think he let his DC do his thing.


Well, this has gotten to be a better conversation w/some history and logic being utilized by the participants.

Except that's not the way you presented it.

If you had just presented it that way you would have probably got some good discussion out of it.

I tend to agree with you, especially about the talent we now have in our secondary. And part of the very reason I brought it up was seeing us being forced into schemes based on the lack of talent in years past.

At the same time I'm not dismissive of the history of Wilks and the D's he has implemented. It was nice that ppe gave some background on the players Wilks had at his disposal and it certainly lends some viability to the theory that it had to do with the talent, or lack of talent he had to work with.

LSU coach confident Browns will get the fighter within Greedy Williams

https://www.ohio.com/sports/20190506/lsu...greedy-williams

Even when Greedy Williams was toothpick-thin, his trash talk packed the wallop of a heavyweight.

The rookie second-round selection of the Browns redshirted as a freshman cornerback at Louisiana State University partly because he weighed just 160 pounds.

In practices, though, Williams didn’t hesitate to mix it up with the big boys.

“He’s got an alpha mentality,” LSU assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Dave Aranda said in a recent phone interview with the Beacon Journal/Ohio.com.

Aranda vividly recalls standing next to then-Tigers coach Les Miles in 2016 while they watched Williams jawing with future NFL wide receivers DJ Chark and Malachi Dupre.

“He’s just calling those guys out, getting right up in their faces and matching them,” Aranda said. “There was just no fear. He looked like a little skinny kid getting it done. When I think of Greedy, I go back to that because that’s the kind of fighter that’s in there.”

Although Williams isn’t the loud, chest-thumping type, he is bold in a different way. It became evident to Northeast Ohio when, minutes after the Browns picked him, Williams predicted on a media conference call they would win the next Super Bowl.

“He believes it,” Aranda said with a laugh. “The thing with Greedy is Greedy is feeling like he’s got stuff to prove. All that is good. That’s when he is at his best because that’s how he was his freshman year.”

The Browns are optimistic they can summon the version of Williams who relentlessly scratches and claws to defeat opponents. The belief played a significant role in General Manager John Dorsey trading up three spots to pick the native of Shreveport, Louisiana, 46th overall on April 26.

Williams expected to be drafted in the first round. However, teams were turned off by his poor tackling in the second half of the 2018 season, and it cost him.

“He slipped some in the draft because he had some miscues this season and didn’t tackle as well as he should have,” Alonzo Highsmith, vice president of player personnel for the Browns, said during draft weekend. “A lot of people dinged him for that, but coming here, I think we will get the best of him. Hopefully he comes here with a chip on his shoulder and wants to prove to everybody that he can be the best player in this draft because he has the talent.”

Decisions, decisions

Aranda insisted Williams is capable of being a reliable tackler.

“I remember Greedy being a real aggressive player,” Aranda said. “I remember him having no fear of tackling. I remember him putting his face on people and getting guys who are much bigger than him down.

“There’s a lot of film to back that up from earlier in his career. Those last couple games at the end of this last season, it just wasn’t like that.”

Williams explained last week during rookie minicamp he sat out the Fiesta Bowl on New Year’s Day because he wanted to avoid injury with a life-changing NFL payday on the horizon for him and his family. He has a 2-year-old daughter, Khloe. His mother, LaKesha, is a cancer survivor who had her first of four children at age 14.

Aranda helped recruit Williams and learned how driven he is to take care of his family. It’s one of the reasons why Aranda said he understands and respects Williams’ decision to skip the bowl game.

“You could tell there was a great love of family with Greedy,” Aranda said. “You could tell that family came first. He’s very close with his mom. They’re great people. They’re welcoming people. They made me feel at home. You knew when Greedy had his daughter that was going to add to the great family unit that they already had. He’s a very strong believer in that.”

Williams, 21, denied that his tackling troubles were the result of a business decision to protect himself. Instead, he blamed those issues on playing more man-to-man coverage than he had previously at LSU.

Aranda said “there’s always concerns” among coaches about NFL prospects altering their playing styles late in their collegiate careers in an effort to stay healthy.

“You really have to work at coaching to kind of get [the quality of tackling] where you want it,” Aranda said. “I could have done a better job and been, No. 1, more proactive and then, No. 2, more diligent with getting the corrections made.”

Coach Freddie Kitchens said last week he’s confident peer pressure from Browns players will prompt Williams to tackle adequately.

“Greedy is a great kid,” Aranda said. “He’s a willing tackler. He’s tackled in the past. I think when he gets to the Browns, he’s going to be tackling people, and some of that [criticism] will go away.”

Bargain shopping

In the meantime, the Browns believe Williams could be a steal. Although he was the seventh cornerback drafted, Dorsey considers him the best coverage corner in this year’s class.

“Where Greedy fell in the draft, all of that I think is going to be used as a great motivation for him, and he’s only going to be a better player because of it,” said Aranda, who attended the draft with Williams in Nashville, Tennessee, as he slid out of the first round.

“I can feel that from him. Just being in the [green] room with him, you could just see that manifest.”

Williams started all 25 games in which he appeared in two seasons at LSU and compiled 71 tackles, including 1.5 for loss, 28 passes defensed and eight interceptions.

Williams, 6-foot-1 7/8, is a prototype for his position. He weighs about 185 pounds, though the Browns might want him to play at 190, especially if a bit more bulk won’t interfere with his speed. He posted a time of 4.37 seconds in the 40-yard dash in March at the NFL Scouting Combine.

“He’s got the quickness that normally would come with a 5-9 guy,” Aranda said.

Williams has the study habits and instincts of a savvy defender, too. Last season, he surrendered a completion early in a game against Auburn on a back-shoulder throw before intercepting a near-identical pass in the second half.

“Countless times he’d come off the field, we’d get done with a series, and he would go, ‘Coach, they’re trying to set up this play,’ ” Aranda said.

Recognition and just about everything else will be more difficult for Williams in the NFL. He took lumps in rookie minicamp but also made some plays, including an interception in Saturday’s session.

It remains to be seen how he’ll fare in practice against Pro Bowl receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry or whether he’ll talk smack with his fellow LSU products.

“That’s going to be worth seeing, man,” Aranda said. “When training camp opens up and that stuff is rolling, that’s going to be fun to watch.”

I don't know if that somebody is me but that was certainly what I was trying to stress in the post that I made. With the superficial understanding that I have, Wilks tends toward a match-up cover 3 zone, not a drop back zone. The verticle patterns run by outside receivers are likely to get man coverage. To me, this explains how Ward's and Williams' man coverage skills will be used if we use a lot of zone defenses

I agree. While zone will be a part of the playbook, man up coverage will still be the primary IMO.

We might zone up when we blitz, especially if we blitz more than 1 player. If not, just man up. We now have 2 guys who's strength is in that style of play. Why would you not utilize their strength?

No need to be dismissive about Wilkes history. That says much. We will play a lot more zone as compared to Williams. We didn't play much zone with Williams. With Wilkes, he likes zone coverage. It's hard to predict how much we will play, but it isn't like man coverage is going to go away.

I think man will remain our "base" secondary scheme. Just not as much.

I didn't listen to the interview, but we played a lot of zone w/Williams, too. I even posted some videos where Peyton Manning was highlighting our different zone coverages.

Yep. No team can play man, or zone, all the time. NFL DCs have to confuse opposing QBs into not trusting what their eyes see.

I know you know this, but for others who might not, what is a big reason NFL offenses run pre-snap motion? (especially an outside receiver) It's because it's the quickest way to see if the defense is running zone or man. If the CB runs with the motion receiver, they are running at least some man. If not, they are probably running at least some zone. I also think that sometimes people look at man as being superior to zone. It is certainly very helpful to have a CB who can lock down a WR on his own, but zone can also be very, very effective. The zone blitz, for example, has been an incredibly effective defense for a long time. However, NFL QBs are too good to just throw the same defense at them every down.

Just my inflation adjusted $0.01987342763541 worth.

The past few years I've been amazed at how few DC's adjusted to this obvious tell. How can someone whose full time job it is to scheme for defenses not be able to show man trailing motion and either change to zone or be in zone the entire time and show man is beyond me.

It would probably take me ONE game of Tom Brady carving my man coverage up after running motion to start the process of adjustment on it.

Well, if you motion the weakside WR to the strong side, the "man" defense almost certainly has to either switch to a zone look, or stay in man and bring the other CB with him.

Defenses work like crazy to give different looks. Many do switch to a number of different zone looks off of offensive motion, or maybe they stay in man with one receiver, and switch up to a different zone for the rest of the field. This is pretty common. 1 CB who didn't have motion sticks with his assignment in man to man, and the rest of the defense plays zone. There are tons of zone or combo iterations, so it's easy to have a defensive call that starts as "A" change, depending on what the offense shows. It's all a chess match, as much as it is a physical confrontation. The defense wants to show enough to confuse the QB into a mistake ... and let's face it .... if the pass rush is doing its job ..... that confusion could, and should, end the "QB's decision time" in about 2-2.5 seconds.

I really think that we will see a huge improvement on defense this year, because we have upgraded the DL so significantly. That helps in man or zone. (or any combination)

Can we not wait awhile- at least a game or two before we proclaim he sucks and can't tackle? Is THAT too much to ask? I never said he was going to be the next Prime. I was making the point that at least one HOF player wasn't exactly an eager tackler so perhaps we should just wait and see what the kid can do...

I think the biggest thing is that there are two parts to every snap: there is how you line up: what you show the offense; and then there is what you switch into based on how you see them line up and adjust to what you've shown them pre-snap.

We have the horses to come out showing Cover 1 every play while being able to shift into Cover 3 - and vice versa. As long as our guys on the field can recognize what the offense is going to do, we can switch it up on the fly. We can show them man and effortlessly switch into zone. We can play zone underneath and man outside, etc...

We are actually not limited by talent. The entirety of any playbook is at our disposal... the value of Schobert may never be higher simply because he is so damned smart at directing the defense.

I think sometimes you get over zealous when talking about adding 20 lbs of muscle and losing fat.

Ward doesn't have that much fat to lose and if he adds 20 lbs of muscle he probably won't be a press corner.

Guys who rely on speed and quicks don't need to be adding muscle.

Strength and endurance, sure. One can gain strength without bulking up 20 lbs of muscle.


I went back and re-read your comments. The wording seemed a bit choppy, but when you said sophomore season I was think of Ward. I see you were talking about Greedy.

Again, we don't know how hard he has worked on his strength. He may be as big as he can be without impacting his ability to cover.

I was moreso replying to eotab than you - turns out I may have been wrong - and I certainly would not proclaim him a bust a week after he was drafted.

Recent video of Ward

Ward looks to have put on 5-10 lbs of muscle

j/c

Watching 'Building the Browns', I can't help wondering if Williams mother might have met Chris Rock at a party about 22 years ago...spitting image!

Just be glad he doesn't look like Chris Farley.

I just have to say I've really enjoy d this thread

Not only does the guy look like Chris Rock, he sounds, talks, and acts like Chris Rock. Crazy, uncanny resemblance.

You have developed a thin skin as you have aged. I wasn't putting you down.

The guy is pretty solid as I see it. A corner at 185 is a big corner. I wouldn't want him to lose much speed or agility and think him pushing up over 200 lbs might do that. Especially the agility. Agility and fluid movement is the key for corners even more than flat out speed.

Now if the guy is carrying 20% body fat, sure, trade that for muscle but something makes me think he isn't anywhere near that.

No one thought that was funny? Seriously?

For reference: Ward had a 40.9% passer rating allowed @OSU.

No team put more pressure and isolated their corners more than Ohio State. Sometimes, stats don't tell the entire story.

That and we don't know what kind of passes were being completed or how many. In the end, it doesn't really matter. Ward is a fine player for us.

LSU did.

They are career stats. So the whole body of work.

Both are great numbers ... It was not a knock on Ward and shouldn't be taken in that light.

Some posters are just too thin skinned.

glad he's signed .... for years we'd have to wait and wait