The 2023 NFL trade deadline is on Tuesday, but Monday served up a whopper of a move in the NFC. The New York Giants sent defensive lineman Leonard Williams to the Seattle Seahawks, which could have significant ramifications on the NFC’s landscape.
On the one hand, Seattle acquires a top-tier pass rusher that completes what might become one of the NFL’s best defenses in the second half of the season. Watch out, NFC. Pete Carroll and his friends aren’t messing around. Meanwhile, the woeful Giants are clearly starting a proper rebuild — which is good because they needed one. General manager Joe Schoen knows his team needs more time and more lottery tickets in the draft, and this trade helps in that regard.
But who came out on top in this semi-blockbuster deal? Let’s hand out some grades.
The details
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, here is what both teams received in the deal for Williams:
The Seahawks get:
- DL Leonard Williams
The Giants get:
- A 2024 second-round draft pick and a 2025 fifth-round draft pick
Seattle Seahawks
The Seahawks are hungry for further success. Thanks to the rival San Francisco 49ers’ recent tailspin, Seattle sits in first place in the NFC West at 5-2. Pete Carroll and Co. should have legitimate aspirations of not only winning the division but making a deep playoff run this January (and February). Adding Williams, one of the finest defensive disruptors in pro football, will only help such an ambitious mission.
A former Pro Bowler and top-six draft pick of the New York Jets in 2015, Williams has carved out a distinctive niche in the NFL. For an interior defensive lineman, the veteran has an impressive nearly 40 career sacks and has amassed over 162 quarterback hits in less than 10 NFL seasons. He will join a mostly complete Seattle defense that just needed more pass-rushing juice up front. More importantly, he will get to take advantage of what might be the league’s top cornerback duo between Tariq Woolen and Devon Witherspoon. You know what that means, folks — more turnovers and impact plays for a defense that already hovered around the top 10 in most relevant metrics. You can never have enough weapons in your pass-rush arsenal.
Kudos to Seahawks general manager John Schneider and Pete Carroll for taking this big swing. Seattle has a golden opportunity to make noise in the NFC this winter. They are in win-now mode and are thoroughly interested in maximizing Geno Smith’s bright resurgence with a championship. While he’s a pending unrestricted free agent and likely more of a short-term rental, Williams will almost certainly be worth this high trade price.
All bets are off in Seattle now.
Grade: A
New York Giants
The Giants’ bumbling 2-6 start has evaporated much of the goodwill they built up from a surprising 2022 playoff berth. In a credit to general manager Joe Schoen, dealing Williams away — a veteran player Big Blue was unlikely to re-sign in the offseason anyway — is a sign Schoen sees the forest for the trees. These Giants are going nowhere and need a significant young talent influx first and foremost.
For Schoen to recoup Seattle’s second-round pick in this April’s draft is a heist. If used on a player New York desperately needs — say, perhaps an actual playmaker at receiver — this Williams trade will be remembered as incremental to a successful New York rebuild. I’m unsure of how happy Brian Daboll is over the move — his coaching seat has grown hot amidst the Giants’ struggles. But I highly doubt Schoen will fire his old friend from the Buffalo Bills. This trade should be a signal that Schoen and Daboll are in it for the long haul together and that the duo knows the Giants need significant reworking before they become a powerhouse again.
I have a feeling we revisit this move in, say, 2025, and start giving Schoen his appropriate flowers.
Grade: A+
