The 90 to 1 Green Bay Packers roster countdown: No. 22 – Jamaal Williams
The Green Bay Packers, and their 90 players on the roster, are in the midst of their first training camp under coach Matt LaFleur. In an annual tradition from my 11 years at Packer Report, I rank the players in order of importance from No. 90 to No. 1. This isn’t just a listing of the team’s best players. Our rankings take into account talent, importance of the position, depth at the position, salary and draft history. More than the ranking, we hope you learn something about each player. (Note: The start of this series can be found with my former employer.)
No. 22: RB Jamaal Williams ($786,498 cap)
While Aaron Jones rightly gets most of the accolades in the backfield, it’s Williams who has been the workhorse with 274 carries and 52 receptions for 326 total touches compared to 214 carries and 35 receptions for 249 total touches for Jones.
The good is Williams has been indestructible – his training camp hamstring injury notwithstanding. He’s played in all 32 career games compared to only 24 for Jones. The bad is Williams simply hasn’t shown the juice to be a No. 1 back. His career average of 3.72 yards per carry is 1.78 yards less than Jones. Put another way, Jones has 60 more carries but 156 fewer yards. Last season, Williams had 11 runs of 10-plus yards, giving him a 10-yard run rate of 9.1 percent; Jones’ 10-yard rate was 16.5 percent.
Running backs coach Ben Sirmans believes Williams should thrive in Matt LaFleur’s outside-zone running scheme.
“I think that one of the things that we always talk about is we look for guys who are violent, one-cut guys, which kind of fits what Jamaal is,” Sirmans said. “I mean, he’s not a guy who’s going to try to initiate a lot of different moves. It should fit him from that standpoint, because he does have the ability to explode off of his cuts and then get vertical downfield. Once you can do those things, then you can operate in this system.”
Even if Jones stays healthy, there should be ample opportunities for Williams. What he lacks in flash, he makes up for in versatility as a three-down back.
“It’s good for me because it finally shows I can get the ball in the open field,” he said. “I can run some routes, run some choice routes, be in the ‘1’ position, run some little slants. It really just shows that I can do more than just run the ball. I can catch it. Everybody knows I can block, but it’s going to emphasize my other skills.”
The Packers fielded the most pass-happy attack in the league last season. LaFleur vows to change that equation. Because Jones hasn’t proven he can handle the load and rookie Dexter Williams hasn’t proven anything, expect to see a heavy dose of Jamaal Williams.
“I think it’s just endless possibilities, really,” he said of a timeshare with Jones. “Both just help each other out. We already know each other, know how we can help one another. And it’s just a brotherhood, really. There’s nothing but love to see each other succeed. We’re having fun out there and we all have each other’s backs. So it’s really just learning this new offense every day together, then going out and showing what we can do.”
