New York Jets Face Former First-Round Pick Starring for Seattle Seahawks

The New York Jets will be facing off with a familiar face when playing the Seattle Seahawks and he may be out for revenge.

Dec 10, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; Seattle Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams (99) before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

At this point in the season, the New York Jets aren’t playing for much more than pride.

Coming off their bye week, they are set to host the Seattle Seahawks. They are riding a two-game losing streak and have been defeated in seven out of their last eight games, dropping their record to an ugly 3-8.

It will be interesting to see what kind of effort and intensity we get from a beaten down Jets squad that is accepting the harsh reality of another playoff-less, losing season.

While they don’t have anything on the line, this is an important game for the Seahawks. Currently in a first-place tie with the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West, they need to win as many games as possible.

One of the players to keep an eye on Sunday afternoon is someone that New York is familiar with — Leonard Williams.

The No. 6 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft will have some extra motivation playing against the team that selected him to start his professional career. In a revenge game against the Jets, things are set up well for him to have a big game.

Alijah Vera-Tucker and John Simpson, the starting guards for New York, as both in the bottom 10 of pass block win rate at their respective positions. That is an ideal situation for Williams, who is coming off a massive performance last week, wrote ESPN analytics writer Seth Walder.

“Williams had a huge game in Seattle's Week 12 win over the Cardinals, recording 2.5 sacks and the highest pass rush win rate at defensive tackle on the week (28%). That pushed him up to third in pass rush win rate (at 16%) at defensive tackle this season, behind only Chris Jones and Zach Allen."

In his 10th season in the NFL, the USC Trojans product is having one of the most productive years of his career. Through 10 games, he has already recorded 5.0 sacks. He only has four individual campaigns with more than that and he still has seven games to play.

He has also recorded 18 quarterback hits and 20 overall pressures, as he is continually getting into the opponent’s backfield. Williams also has seven tackles for loss already.

With so much positive momentum from last week against the Cardinals, he is in a great spot for another big performance against his old team this week.