NY Jets DC gives peculiar response to Quinnen Williams situation

New York Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich explains why Quinnen Williams is not playing more snaps

With the New York Jets defense currently ranked 32nd in DVOA for the second consecutive season, the team’s defensive scheme and strategies are currently taking immense criticism from the fanbase.

One of the most commonly critiqued aspects of the Jets’ defensive strategy has been their management of Quinnen Williams‘s snap count.

Despite his excellent start to the season, the Jets’ star defensive tackle is ranked only 36th at his position with 120 snaps this season. His average of 40.0 snaps per game is about 12-15 snaps lower than most of the other star defensive tackles around the NFL. Williams has played just 63% of the Jets’ defensive snaps this year.

Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was asked about Williams’s playing time on Thursday. His response will only serve as more fuel to the fire that burns under his seat.

“There are these critical moments in games, ‘Why is Quinnen not out there?’ You look to the side and he’s gasping for air.”

Jeff Ulbrich on Quinnen Williams’ role in the Jets’ defensive line rotations: pic.twitter.com/m4lC848rPS

— Jets Videos (@snyjets) September 29, 2022

“There are these critical moments in games [where you ask], ‘Why is Quinnen not out there?’, and you look to the side and he’s gasping for air,” Ulbrich said.

“Just got to be judicious with it. Got to absolutely use him as much as we can, and as much as we can in critical moments, for sure. But I still think there has to be a level of rotation. He plays at such a high clip and he goes so hard that, sometimes more is less, or more isn’t necessarily as good. Because now you’re not seeing the speed, the explosiveness, all the special stuff from an athletic standpoint that he brings.”

Of the other 31 NFL teams, only six of them are playing their most-used defensive tackle for fewer snaps per game than Williams, and none of those six teams have a defensive tackle who is playing close to Williams’s level. The highest-graded DT1 of those six teams at Pro Football Focus is Dallas’s Osa Odighizuwa, whose 72.2 overall PFF grade sits well behind Williams’s 82.7.

Williams’s 88.5 pass-rush grade ranks third at his position, per PFF, and he is playing the fewest snaps per game among the players ranked in the top five. The other four players (Kenny Clark, Aaron Donald, Chris Jones, Jeffery Simmons) combine for an average of 52.6 snaps per game.

Ulbrich’s response is puzzling considering that Williams has played incredibly well in the rare instances when he was allowed to play a high snap count. Here is a look at Williams’s production across his most recent three games where he played over 70% of the Jets’ defensive snaps (all in the 2020 season, predating Ulbrich’s arrival):

• 17 pressures (5.7 per game)
• 10 run stops (3.3 per game)
• 6 quarterback hits (2.0 per game)
• 2.5 sacks (0.83 per game)
• 2 pass deflections
• 1 forced fumble
• 0 missed tackles
• 84.5 overall Pro Football Focus grade

The three games: Week 4 vs. Denver (50 snaps / 71%), Week 12 vs. Miami (52 snaps / 73%), Week 13 vs. Las Vegas (64 snaps / 82%)

Across those three games, Williams played 55.3 snaps per game on a 75% ratio. It seems like he was able to handle the increased workload just fine, so it is certainly strange that the Jets are not willing to at least give Williams a chance to prove he could handle a higher snap count.

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