Los Angeles Rams superstar Aaron Donald is one of the top defenders in the NFL today. His two Defensive Player of the Year awards serve as a testament to this. For New York Jets coach Gregg Williams, who served as Donald's defensive coordinator during their stint together with the St. Louis Rams some years ago, he believes that he may have already unearthed the second coming of Donald.
Williams told Peter Botte of the New York Times that he sees Quinnen Williams possibly emerging as the next Aaron Donald:
“Quinnen is way ahead of Aaron in a lot of different categories. He’s ahead of him, and I love teasing Aaron about that every once in a while when we have our chats. They’re different players, they play the same position, but they’re different athletes on how they go about doing their responsibility.”
Based on what Quinnen has done so far, his coach does not appear to be off on his assessment. Quinnen may not be on the same level as Donald right now, but there's no denying that the 22-year-old could be well on his way.
Williams then could not help but take a quick stroll down memory lane as he heaped praise on Donald. He also clapped back at critics who called him out for selecting the former Pittsburgh standout as the 13th overall pick in 2014.
“Quinnen is a big man. But Aaron can still get after it with making you believe you’re going to be blocking air, because he’s gonna jump you, he’s gonna spin you, he’s gonna do a lot of different things that way. The other thing, too, I laugh, I smile, and I haven’t forgotten, there was a lot of criticism that came my way when we drafted this short guy, Aaron Donald, as high as we did. But he’s turned out to be a pretty good player.”
Williams clearly has some experience when it comes to untapping the potential of his players. Only time will tell if Quinnen can live up to the lofty expectations.
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