This marks the continuation of a 2023 series looking at active players and their current situation vis a vis what it was entering the NFL draft. The comments from personnel men were made in the months leading up to the draft for my NFL Draft Series, which dates to 1985. Scouting football players is an inexact science, especially when it comes to off-the-field considerations. It has been said no two evaluators view a player exactly the same way.
By Bob McGinn
Leonard Williams is more than just a survivor. He has become the ultimate achiever, a defensive tackle in the National Football League with the rare distinction of playing his best a decade into his career.
On Wednesday night, the Seattle Seahawks will begin defense of their NFL championship against the New England Patriots, the team they defeated in the 60th Super Bowl. Williams, a 12-year veteran, is the centerpiece of what was the NFL’s top scoring defense a season ago.
“He’s the cornerstone of all the things they do on defense,” an executive in personnel said. “Their secondary calls are based upon Williams and his ability to disrupt everything inside. He’s not as wide as a lot of guys but his effectiveness you can’t really measure because he’s such a force.”
The two New York teams, the Jets and the Giants, obviously didn’t see Williams in that light. The Jets, who drafted him high in the first round in 2015, traded him to the Giants in mid-2019, and four years later almost to the day the Giants dealt him to Seattle. The two trades were for draft-choice compensation only, but it was informative that neither deal included a pick in the first round.
The New York clubs liked Williams, but only to a point. The Jets and Giants had their reasons for moving on. The highly-paid Williams had been a solid but not exceptional performer in his 8 ½ seasons on the East Coast.
Talk about benefiting from a change of scenery. Once Williams got to the Pacific Northwest his game took off to the point where now he has reached what NFL teams always knew was an extremely high ceiling. No one doubted his effort in New York, but Williams discovered he had another gear and outlook immediately upon arrival in Seattle.
“I think it just lit a fire within me,” Williams said in August. “It just restored all my energy and love for the game.”
As his age-32 season arrives Williams finds himself awash with professional status and accolades that have never come his way before. Suddenly, he is rated at or near the top of defensive tackles after 10 long years of watching those honors always bestowed on his contemporaries.
In the offseason, ESPN polled more than 70 NFL executives, coaches and scouts to rank the top 10 players at each position entering the 2026 season. The ESPN undertaking, directed by Jeremy Fowler, began in 2020.
Before this year, Williams’ best finish was No. 6 in 2025. This year, Williams jumped all the way to No. 1; it was his first top-5 finish.
“That was amazing,” Williams said. “I think it’s awesome to get that recognition, especially later in my career. I feel like I’ve always trusted and had confidence in the type of player I am. I think having (attention on the) season and our team from going to the Super Bowl has kind of shed more light on individuals as well. It’s an honor to be able to get that recognition from my peers, especially. It’s not a fan voting. It’s something that’s from league executives and coaches and things like that, which means a lot more.”
ESPN’s top-10 after Williams, in order, were Jeffery Simmons, Jalen Carter, Chris Jones, Derrick Brown, Quinnen Williams, Dexter Lawrence, Zach Allen, Milton Williams and Jordan Davis.
One of the stunning elements of the ESPN poll was the fact that last year was the first time Williams had been voted to the Pro Bowl. He had been a replacement pick in 2016 and 2024. Pro Bowl voting incorporates a formula involving the vote of coaches, players and fans.
In all, 19 defensive tackles received votes in the survey by ESPN.
Last week, I ran the names of those 19 defensive tackles by two personnel men asking them if they’d rather have that player or Williams entering 2026. Each selected five players over Williams, so in theory he was No. 6 overall. Vita Vea, Simmons and Carter were taken over Williams by both scouts; the four receiving one nod over him were Jones, Quinnen Williams, Lawrence and Davis.
“I would say he’s top-5 for sure,” said one executive. “He’s had a couple peaks and valleys in his career. Maybe three or four years ago I felt his play was a little more inconsistent. Now at Seattle he’s been a truly dominant player.
“In the run game he can dominate singles and hold up against doubles. He also has the ability to split blocks and get in the backfield. I’ve always admired him for being such a good athlete to get off blockers and make plays.
“As a rusher, he’s a little bit undervalued. He could win with power. He could win with speed on edges. Good with his hands. He’s a violent player. Really a rare athlete for his size. He has the ability to really move down the line of scrimmage and get to the ball.”
Marc Ross, an executive in personnel for more than 20 years with the Eagles, Bills and Giants, was one of four scouts who said Williams’ resume isn’t Hall of Fame quality.
“He’s just a damn good player,” said Ross. “He could be 1, he could be 5 (now). Hard to say who’s the best. He got better with age. He always showed that he was good and had talent, but you see what happened when a really talented guy gets in a situation that is advantageous for him.”
Fifteen defensive tackles have been voted to two or more Pro Bowls since Williams entered the league 12 years ago. That list includes Donald (nine), Jones (seven), Fletcher Cox (six), Geno Atkins and Cameron Heyward (five), Calais Campbell (four), Gerald McCoy, Jurrell Casey, Quinnen Williams and Lawrence (three), and Grady Jarrett, Zach Allen, Jeffrey Simmons, Nnamdi Madubuike and Carter (two). Williams and 10 other D-tackles have been voted to one.
“It’s a great question: is he great, or just a very good one?” said another scout. “I think he’s very good. On the cusp of being great. The first thing you notice about Leonard Williams is his length. Then his get-off, his quickness and his agility.
“When I evaluated him in New York I saw no problems with the guy. It’s, like, then he goes there (Seattle) and continues to do it and now they win a Super Bowl and everybody wants to talk about the guy. It’s sad because he’s had a legit career. He’s got great numbers in terms of pressures. It’s not always about sacks.
“To me, do you have a presence in that middle? Yes, he has a presence in the middle.”
Go Long paid subscribers can access this piece — and all of McGinn’s content — in full. He’ll dissect the NFC North weekly on the Ty & Bob Pod and pen longform columns like this one below all season long.
BASICS
Height: 6-4 ½. Weight: 310 (302 at the combine, 304 at pro day). Age: 32. From: Daytona Beach, Fla.
40-yard dash: 4.95. Vertical jump: 29 ½ inches. Broad jump: 8-10. Bench press: No lift (right shoulder injury). Wonderlic test: 22. Short shuttle: 4.53. 3-cone: 7.59. Arms: 34 5/8 (tied for longest among the top 15 DTs). Hands: 10 5/8 (second largest among the top 20 DTs).
Leonard Williams was born in Bakersfield, Calif., in 1994. He was the third of Aviva Russek’s five children. His mother was a nurse and his father, Clenin Lee Williams III, was a college graduate who worked as a computer numerical control machinist in Detroit after the family moved in Michigan when Williams was about 5.
His parents separated in 2009. During childhood Williams moved from Detroit to Arizona to Daytona Beach, where the family often lived in homeless shelters or a motel.
