GREEN BAY – It took until the fifth game of his rookie season for safety Evan Williams to crack the Packers' starting lineup.
Then he immediately made the type of play that showed he belongs.
With the Rams trailing by five and driving for a go-ahead touchdown in the final two minutes, Williams had a 9-yard pass completed on him to a receiver breaking out of a bunch formation.
Just a few snaps later, it was fourth down and the Rams ran the exact same route combination from the same bunch formation. Recognizing it before the snap, Williams closed the gap on his man, and the tightened coverage led to an incomplete pass that sealed Green Bay's 24-19 win.
It was the epitome of the first thing anyone said all season when talking about Williams: "Smart player."
"I mean, that's a huge part of the game, right?" Williams said just after the Packers' season wrapped up. "People say this game is 90% mental and 10% physical, and I think a lot of that rings true.
"There's chess matches out there, especially as a safety, you're playing with the quarterback. Because that's their primary read on a lot of plays is seeing what those safeties are doing."
Williams' smarts likely will become an even bigger asset for him and the Packers as his career progresses. Already, they allowed him to pick up defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley's system quickly, learn more than the average rookie from film study, and work with veteran safety Xavier McKinney at disguising the defense's intentions.
Now that he's got more than 500 defensive snaps under his belt, the mental rolodex will only grow and give him that much more to draw upon as he matures as a pro.
"He can be as good as he wants to be," defensive backs coach Ryan Downard said late in the year. "I think he has a weapon in his brain with how smart he is and how aware he is. That accelerates your ability to play early in this league because you can grasp the concepts and what we're trying to get done."
Williams' physical tools aren't lacking, either. While his 4.6-second 40 time or 5-foot-11 frame might've been what kept him available until the fourth round in the draft, the Fresno St. and Oregon product takes good angles, can pack a little punch, and has good hands, too.
All that added up to 54 tackles, four passes defensed, one interception and one forced fumble in 14 games (seven starts), including playoffs. He certainly would've played more if not for various injuries (hamstring, concussion and quadricep) that had him bouncing in and out of the lineup over the second half of the season.
Those came after he had established himself as the starter alongside McKinney, but that took some time. Williams didn't even play on defense in the opener in Brazil, and then played just 34 snaps total in the next three games.
But while waiting his turn, every time he got on the field, he showed something, and then that Rams game solidified his place. Asked what he was most proud of during his rookie season, he said his "playmaking."
"I feel like a lot of people doubted me coming into this year as far as not being fast enough or physical enough or big enough," he said. "Really I just tried to put on tape that regardless of what any numbers say, or what anybody says about me, that when I put my best foot forward it looks a little different on tape."
He's grateful for the mentorship he received from vets like McKinney and Keisean Nixon, and what started as a process to simply earn respect and playing time now has the crystal ball indicating he's as a potential defensive mainstay in Green Bay.
With fellow safety draft pick Javon Bullard showing the nickel/slot might be his best position, and Nixon proving he can play outside corner as well as inside, it's easy to envision McKinney and Williams becoming long-time partners on the back end as Hafley's defense takes shape.
The offseason will be good for Williams' body after it got banged up a bit, and he'll look to stay healthier in Year 2. The brains behind the body will always be there.
"As long as I keep developing, I think that mental edge, that mental side of the game, that's something you don't lose," he said. "I feel like that can carry you really far."
