Free Agent Profile: FS Marcus Williams

Could Williams provide Washington with a long-term solution to the free safety position?

Washington’s defense was undoubtedly the strength of the team last season and carried the team to the NFC East division title. The offense needs plenty of work and it would make sense for the team to focus more on improving the offensive side of the ball this offseason. However, that doesn’t mean the defense can’t be improved too. The strength of the unit is the defensive line, but a linebacker and a free safety could take the defense from good to great. 

The free safety spot has long been a position Washington has neglected. The team has consistently tried veteran safeties on cheap, short contracts to fill the void but has failed to find the right guy. Ron Rivera’s history in Carolina suggests he’s of a similar mindset, preferring to save money at both safety spots and spend that money elsewhere. However, if Washington and Rivera decide to buck the trend and spend on a free safety, there’s some good options in free agency. Top of my list personally would be Marcus Williams. 

Williams was drafted in the second round back in 2017 by the Saints and has been their starting free safety ever since. The 24-year-old would ordinarily be high on the list of priorities for the Saints to retain, but they are in serious cap trouble and will likely be forced to let him hit the market. So what could Williams bring to Washington? Let's take a closer look.

The primary responsibility of a free safety is to stay on top of deeper routes and prevent the offense from hitting deep shots down the field. Williams is perfectly capable of playing in that way.

Here’s some examples of Williams staying on top of deeper routes and maintaining his ability to drive on the routes should the quarterback throw that way. The first play of the clip shows the Saints playing a Tampa-2 coverage, with Williams responsible for his deep half of the field. As the ball is snapped, his eyes go straight to slot receiver Chris Godwin, who runs a corner route. Williams anticipates the route well, breaking outside before Godwin makes his cut and staying on top of the route while being in a position to drive on the route. Tom Brady wisely opts against attempting that throw and holds on to the ball before having it knocked out by the pass rush. The second play of the clip shows Williams again in the red zone against a corner route. This time, Tyreek Hill aligns inside and runs a corner route with a strong fake to the post. Williams initially works inside towards the post, but also is aware that he has help inside with the other safety, so maintains his outside leverage. As Hill breaks back outside, Williams is in the perfect position to sit on top of the route and prevent Patrick Mahomes from throwing it.

On the third play of the clip, Williams starts aligned between the numbers and the hashmarks, about 15 yards off the line of scrimmage and about a yard inside the slot receiver. As the ball is snapped, he slowly rotates back towards the deep middle of the field, but then reads Brady taking a shot down the left side of the field. Williams doesn’t get across to break up the pass, but he shows solid range, working from the far hash to the numbers to stay on top of the route. He was in position to make the tackle had the receiver brought in the pass without falling over, preventing the pass from turning into a touchdown.

Staying on top of routes and protecting against deep shots is an important part of playing free safety, but that’s a very basic part of the role. The best free safeties impact the game more than just preventing deep shots. Williams is also good at reading route combinations and relating to certain routes in a way that takes them away from the quarterback.

On the first play of this clip, Williams aligns as part of a two-deep safety look. The Packers run a play-action bootleg, with Aaron Rodgers faking a hand-off to his right before rolling out to his left. Williams doesn’t get caught up in the action in the backfield and reads the crossing route from the receiver to the right. He quickly works across to cut the crosser, allowing the cornerback on that side to peel off and replace him deep. Williams takes away the crossing route and forces Rodgers to look elsewhere. On the second play, Williams again works in the red zone against Godwin. Brady looks right at Williams, reading him hoping that Godwin will be able to cut across his face into the middle of the field on his post route. However, Williams anticipates the route and steps up and inside to take away Godwin’s angle to the post, taking the route away from Brady.

Williams consistently shows good awareness for a safety, understanding his responsibilities within each coverage, where his help is, and often how he can help teammates when he can.

Here, we see Williams working against a scissors combination from the Packers. Scissors combinations have two receivers crossing paths, as the outside receiver breaks inside and the inside receiver breaks outside. These can be tough to defend as the routes suddenly cross paths and confuse defenders with which receiver they should be taking. But Williams shows here he understands his coverage and the route combination, immediately taking the corner route from the inside receiver, knowing he has the linebacker running up the seam to wall off the in-breaking route. Williams stays on top of the corner route and takes that option away from the quarterback.

The second play of the clip shows Williams working out of structure to help his teammates. He appears to be responsible for a deep half or quarter to his side of the field, but the Chiefs have two vertical routes to the other side of the field and take a shot. Williams reads Mahomes and notices him looking to the other side of the field. He quickly opens his hips to turn and run to try and help his teammates. Thanks to his anticipation, he’s able to sink back into a perfect position to take away the throw and ends up intercepting the pass, which was unfortunately wiped out for an unrelated penalty.

Another aspect of his game that he does well is take the right angles. We’ve already seen a couple of good examples of him breaking at the right angles to stay on top of routes, but he also does the same when looking to make plays on the ball.

On the first play of this clip, the Chiefs run a similar scissors concept to the one we saw from the Packers earlier. Williams sinks back deep but then pauses, anticipating Mahomes scrambling to his left under pressure. However, Mahomes steps up and then fires back across the field to the deep over route. Williams has to locate the target, identify his path, open his hips and break on the route in a fraction of a second, but gets all of his calculations spot on. He arrives at the receiver at the same time as the ball and lands a firm but legal hit to break up the pass.

The Chiefs look to hit a deep over on the second play of the clip. Williams is the only deep safety pre-snap, but aligns over the trips set to the left. He reads the over route and works across the field to stay on top of it, but Mahomes opts to try and fit the ball into a tight window anyway. Williams staying on top of the route allows him to get his eyes in the backfield and see the throw. From there, he’s able to play the ball in the air and drive down on the route. He takes a perfect angle and jumps the route. Unfortunately he dropped the interception and injured his ankle in the process, but that shouldn’t take away from the play overall.

Williams might come at a significant cost, which Washington and Rivera may be reluctant to pay given their combined history and the fact that Landon Collins is already on a significant contract. However, Williams is still very young with the upside to improve while still providing an immediate impact. He could be the long-term safety partner for Kam Curl, who himself is only 21, giving Washington some stability in the secondary. The two have complementing skillsets and would allow Washington to play both single-high and two-deep coverages as they please. The only downside to this move, at least in my eyes, would be the potential cost.