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Tramon Williams isn’t ruling out a change of scenery for the 2020 NFL season, but the veteran cornerback would prefer to keep on going with the Green Bay Packers.
According to ESPN’s Josina Anderson, Williams said returning to the Packers is his “priority option,” but he is also staying “open-minded about other teams” as he navigates free agency this offseason. The veteran cornerback has spent 10 of his 13 seasons in the league with the Packers and is looking to extend his second stint with the team after playing elsewhere from 2015-17.
“It’s just a waiting game right now,” Williams said, via Anderson.
Williams, 37, provided the Packers with valuable depth at cornerback last season and continued to play at a high level despite being at the tail end of his career, picking off two passes and finishing the year with 39 tackles, eight pass deflections, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble. Pro Football Focus also ranked him the sixth-best cornerback in the league during the 2019 regular season.
And yet, eight days after the start of the NFL’s legal tampering period, Williams remains unsigned as an unrestricted free agent.
Bringing back Williams would allow the Packers to solidify their depth behind starters Jaire Alexander and Kevin King and maintain an important veteran presence in a locker room dictated by its strong culture. He would likely be the No. 4 cornerback in a rotation with youngster Chandon Sullivan, who was recently tendered as an exclusive rights free agent and is expected to see a bump in playing time in 2020.
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Re-Signing Williams Would Be Logical Move
There is good reason for the Packers to re-sign Williams this offseason in terms of both immediate security and building for a younger future.
For starters, Williams isn’t going to come with a massive price tag like some other free-agent backup cornerback options that have gone off the market in the past month. He just finished up a two-year deal with the Packers that saw him earn about $5 million per season and could agree to take even less now that he is on the wrong side of 30, depending on how long his next contract will be.
Keeping Williams around, even if only for one more season, also presents the Packers with an opportunity to take a young cornerback at some point during next month’s draft and stash him behind their mainstays on the depth chart, giving him a full season to develop into an impact player. There are obviously more pressing draft needs, like finding a new No. 2 receiver, but addressing cornerback depth sooner rather than later would be a smart play.
Don’t forget: King will be an unrestricted free agent next offseason when the Packers have several other high-profile free agents to consider bringing back, including left tackle David Bakhtiari, center Corey Linsley, nose tackle Kenny Clark and running backs Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams.
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