New York Jets: Leonard Williams has played far below his draft value

When talking about the New York Jets GM Mike Maccagnan, you must talk about Leonard Williams who has not played up to his draft value.

There is a lot to unpack when talking about the resume of New York Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan. We can talk all day about the misses he has made in the draft.

Christian Hackenberg anyone?

We can compare the rate of success for Maccagnan with the rest of the general managers around the league. Spoiler alert, it’s not favorable for the man running the Gang Green.

But one topic that isn’t discussed enough is the overvaluing of prospects. Well, other than the overvaluing of Hackenberg. That’s been discussed enough for several lifetimes.

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One big example is Leonard Williams.

Now, don’t get excited Jets fans. I am not saying that Williams was a bad idea or a bust of a draft pick. Far from it.

But has he played to the level of a sixth overall pick? Let’s break it down.

Williams’ best season as a pass rusher came in 2016 when he was a Pro Bowl selection. He forced two fumbles, recorded seven sacks and 68 total tackles.

Every other season of his career, Williams has topped out at three sacks. Granted, there are still four games to play in 2018 so we will see what happens there.

In 2018, if we go into the detailed stats with Pro Football Focus, we see a decent starter but not a number six overall pick.

Williams has posted 26 quarterback hurries, which is a solid number. It’s not, however, in the upper echelon with guys like Fletcher Cox (48 hurries) or Aaron Donald (54 hurries).

His tackling efficiency, at 5.2%, falls under the same category. For comparison, Donald has posted a 7.5% tackling efficiency percentage.

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Williams has consistently gotten to the quarterback at a number that has been around 26-30 in each year of his young career. While that is a serviceable to good starter, it’s not the numbers of a guy like Donald who puts up into the 40s and 50s each year.

Some of that consistency has dropped off over the last couple of years. Beginning in 2017 and up to the current date, Williams has posted five games without a single tackle. A guy drafted sixth overall does not disappear to that level ever, much less five separate times.

Here is the bottom line. Leonard Williams has been good. But, he has not been sixth pick good. You want a generational dominant talent at that pick and Williams simply hasn’t been it.

That is another demerit on the resume of Mike Maccagnan.

For more grades, advanced statistics and more at Pro Football Focus, subscribe to PFF’s EDGE or ELITE subscriptions at ProFootballFocus.com.

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