After sitting on the bench for 97% of the defensive snaps against the Las Vegas Raiders, Kansas City Chiefs rookie CB Joshua Williams was called into action in the game’s biggest moment.
Rashad Fenton went out of the game due to cramping on the final two defensive snaps and Williams came in. On Las Vegas’ last-ditch effort on fourth-and-1, Williams was isolated in press-man coverage against Raiders WR Davante Adams. That’s a matchup dream for an opponent, but according to DB coach Dave Merritt, the Chiefs didn’t have the slightest bit of nervousness to send Williams out there in that situation.
“Not at all because that was one of the reasons why we drafted the six-three-and-a-half corner with the long arms is to be able to play that type of coverage when it’s a critical situation,” Merritt told reporters. “For the young man to go out there and execute the press technique the way he did it, it was really nice to see.”
Williams jabbed Adams on his inside release and slowed him just enough to impact the timing of the route. It’s part of what created the collision between Renfrow and Adams.
#Chiefs DB coach Dave Merritt and DC Steve Spagnuolo both had high praise for rookie CB Joshua Williams' press on Davante Adams. Safeties coach Donald D'Alesio used it as teach tape in meetings this week per Merritt: "Hey, this is what you want to do if we call man-to-man." pic.twitter.com/0rlKPOzbzY
— Charles Goldman (@goldmctNFL) October 14, 2022
Chiefs DC Steve Spagnuolo reiterated that Williams being in the game didn’t impact his decision-making in terms of the play call. They were playing to win the game and Williams executed his assignment to the letter.
“Yeah, I was very proud,” Spagnuolo said. “Josh Williams over there – I know the two receivers bumped into each other, but Josh did a really good job of pressing them and wanting to kind of help create that. We didn’t blink, I can tell you that. We were just calling what we thought was the best thing to win that down at that time and just having the confidence of the guys that were in there to execute it and they did. They did a nice job.”
Williams’ repetition against Adams didn’t just help the team win the game, but Merritt says it’s big for Williams’ confidence moving forward. The team already used the repetition as “teach tape” in defensive meetings this past week.
“Big,” Merritt said. “The other day we were actually showing our two minutes and showing plays and right before we started talking about the two-minute actually Don D’Alesio put Josh Williams’ plays up on the board and he just basically showed everyone, ‘Hey, this is what you want to do if we call man-to-man,’ and that was a big moment for that young man in front of the defensive group. Of course, he started grinning from ear to ear. It builds confidence for sure, especially against a player like (Raiders WR Davante) Adams.”
Williams could have an opportunity to play again in Week 6 against the Bills. Fenton has missed the practice week with a hamstring injury and even if Trent McDuffie is activated to the 53-man roster from injured reserve, he could be on a pitch count in his return. The team is preparing Williams as if he’ll play, and Merritt hopes that if he does, he can stack good games.
“He’s up again this week, so we’ll see if he can stack it,” Merritt said.
