Among the many reasons the Cincinnati Bengals felt compelled to lock up Shawn Williams to a long-term deal last week was his versatility and hybrid ability.
Though he is listed as a safety on the Bengals' roster, the fourth-year defensive back is much more than that.
"He played safety when we first drafted him, [but] he kept his head down and kept working," defensive coordinator Paul Guenther said. "We played him some underneath as a dime linebacker, dime safety. Those kind of things are valuable to us."
Not to mention, Williams also has been a star on special teams, where he had 19 tackles on coverage teams his first two seasons.
Williams' anticipated role change from backup to starter might have been the primary impetus behind giving him a four-year extension that will pay him $19.5 million in new money (he was to earn about $824,000 in 2016 before the extension), but he will be much more than a starting safety. Count Guenther among those most eager to see Williams put his safety and linebacker skills to added use this fall.
"You play a lot of these tight ends now, and they are basically receivers," Guenther said. "Every team pretty much has one of those guys. Do you match a safety up against him? Do you find a safety that can drop down in the box and play the run and the pass? Shawn is one of those guys. We utilized him in that role last year, and we'll continue to do that."
In a constantly-changing NFL, the safety position has become increasingly more important to neutralizing pass-focused offenses. Teams have started throwing to tight ends more in recent years, and doing so at all parts of the field. The red zone isn't the only area where the larger pass-catchers are thriving. Just think about the ways the Bengals used Tyler Eifert last season. The tight end caught 52 passes, 13 for touchdowns. Yes, 11 of those scores came from inside the 20, but he was still catching chunk passes from beyond the 20, too.
Defenses like the Bengals' have adopted the philosophy that they can't have enough quick, bigger-bodied safeties who can also cover linebackers and running backs from near the line of scrimmage. In Cincinnati's case, injuries forced such a realization in 2013.
At the end of that preseason, Emmanuel Lamur, an undrafted linebacker who had shined in coverage, suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. As they scrambled to replace him early that season, the Bengals started teaching safety Taylor Mays the nuances of covering as a linebacker in nickel and dime formations.
Mays started thriving in his new role, and was on pace for a career-high in tackles before a Week 8 shoulder injury ended his season. After fighting through injury issues at linebacker during the 2013 and 2014 seasons, the Bengals cross-trained more at safety/linebacker, ultimately leading to the expansion of Williams' skill set. So far, it's paid off for Williams.
"[He's a] very good open-field tackler, good in center field as a center-field safety. He can drop down in the box, a very good blitzer. He's smart," Guenther said. "He does a very good job of doing it the way we want to do it, and he got rewarded for it."
