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The Seattle Seahawks brought in defensive tackle Leonard Williams at the NFL trade deadline to improve their run defense and add some pass-rush push up the middle.
In the Seahawks Week 9 matchup with the Baltimore Ravens, it didn’t take Williams long to show the sheer strength and domination he brings to the table as he flattened All-Pro offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley and chased quarterback Lamar Jackson out of the pocket.
Leonard Williams Destroyed Ravens OT Ronnie Stanley
The newest Seahawks star, Leonard Williams, didn’t waste any time showing Seattle fans exactly how disruptive he can be upfront. Williams is listed at 6-foot-5, 300 pounds, and is an incredible athlete for his size.
Coming out of USC, Williams ran a 4.97 40-yard dash and posted a 29.5-inch vertical jump and an 8-foot-10-inch broad jump, demonstrating supreme explosion and athleticism for a man his size. The NFL.com scouting report called him an “Enormously powerful defensive lineman” and a “supremely gifted interior lineman with length, athleticism and elite power.”
That power was on display in the first few plays of his Seahawks career when Williams went up against 6-foot-6, 315-pound Pro Bowl and All-Pro Ravens tackle Ronnie Stanley. As Jackson dropped back to pass, Williams got under Stanley’s shoulder pads, stood him up, drove him back, and planted the OT on his backside. The HawksMania X account provides the video of the impressive moment.
It was a sight to behold and an extraordinary feat of strength from Williams, but also one that Seahawks fans will also start to see on a regular basis as they now root for one of the most dominant DTs in the game.
Will the Seahawks Keep Williams Long-Term?
John Schneider and Pete Carroll made a bold move with the Leonard Williams trade. Yes, Williams is an incredible player, as evidenced by his steamrolling of Stanley in his first game. However, he is also in the last year of his contract, and the Seattle brain trust gave up a lot to get him.
Seattle sent a 2024 second-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round selection to the New York Giants for Williams, which is a lot of draft capital.
In addition to getting the Pro Bowl-caliber player, the Seahawks also got an excellent financial deal for this season. Williams is in the last year of the three-year, $63 million contract he signed in 2021. There was about $10 million left on his deal ahead of the Seahawks Week 9 matchup with the Ravens, and ESPN reports that the Giants agreed to pick up nearly the entire balance, leaving the Seahawks just $647,000 to pay in 2023.
That’s all well and good for now, but if Williams walks this summer — especially if he doesn’t help the Seahawks win the Super Bowl — the deal will be tough to take.
Seattle could get a compensatory pick as high as a third-rounder if the DT signs a big deal with another team, but that second-rounder is still a big deal when you consider how Schneider and Carroll have been crushing second-rounders in the last two drafts with Boye Mafe, Kenneth Walker III, Derick Hall, and Zach Charbonnet.
To keep Williams in the Pacific Northwest it will cost the team a nice chunk of change. NFL contract website Spotrac estimates the DT’s market value is a three-year, $44.5 million deal, which works out to $14.8 million per season.
However, recent star DT contracts for Quinnen Williams, Jefferey Simmons, and Daron Payne have all paid them over $20 million per season. It stands to reason that Williams will want the same, and now it’s up to Schneider and Carroll if they’re willing to pay that this offseason.
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