3rd Round: Shawn Williams

[TJJackson]

Marvin said they will not add a vet safety

H U G E mistake

[ArmyBengal]

Yeah, safety is again a position that seems to be ignored.

This isn't a pick i'm a big fan of.

I will trust in what the Bengals do and Zimmer's thoughts of him.

However, they say they want interchangeable safeties and appear to have gone against that thought with this pick.

Hope he's awesome, but won't be surprised if he's not.

[WonderfulMonds]

Marvin said they will not add a vet safety, so looks like Williams is the guy.

Bummer. I was really hoping for Rhodes or maybe Woodson.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

From Bleacher Report:

The top safety tandem in the SEC for the last two seasons was Bacarri Rambo and Shawn Williams of the Georgia Bulldogs. Rambo may have received most of the press, because as the free safety he had more freedom to roam around the secondary making plays.

Williams had to balance run responsibilities in addition to pass coverage, and he still collected a combined 170 tackles in 2011-12. Over his career, he demonstrated a variety of ways to affect the outcome of the game.

After putting up some outstanding numbers at the combine, he outshone his more colorfully named teammate at Georgia’s Pro Day. According to the venerable draftnik Mel Kiper, they could end up switching places in the selection process:

Twitter:

Seth Emerson @SethEmerson

Mel Kiper projecting Georgia DBs in the draft: Shawn Williams 2nd/3rd round; Bacarri Rambo 3rd/4th round; Sanders Commings 4th/5th round.

2:13 PM - 10 Apr 2013

Called his Georgia defense "too soft" and won the "tougness award" the last two seasons, probably the 1st or 2nd best Safety in the SEC the last two years - can't really argue with that too much. Nice #'s across the board, his combine #'s are pretty sick, big dude for a 6'1" guy (built like a truck and looks like a mean SOB).

Will give him a chance certainly...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8cdUwCXSIs&feature=player_embedded

[Kazkal]

Yeah, safety is again a position that seems to be ignored.

This isn't a pick i'm a big fan of.

I will trust in what the Bengals do and Zimmer's thoughts of him.

However, they say they want interchangeable safeties and appear to have gone against that thought with this pick.

Hope he's awesome, but won't be surprised if he's not.

Well marvin has prefered interchangable but zimmer always seemed lean towards a enforcer style.who knows ill trust in zimmer he hasent let us down yet and who knows maybe this is the year mays flicks the switch o n

[ArmyBengal]

This pick is the one that has me wondering the most.

It was not really knowing much about him more than anything.

Now that i've had some time to research Williams further the player he really does remind me of is Crocker.

A younger, faster Crocker. His leadership abilities and noted selfless play are things that were brought up often.

It seems more important that the defense was aligned right than him putting himself in a position to make the big play.

The defense as a whole was more important than his individual accomplishments.

That's what i've seen discussed the most and something this team seems to be doing a better job of bringing in.

The safety position was the one spot I was really concerned about and while I can't say as I am absolutely sure they have done that, I am happier with this pick than I was when the selection was made. I like the fact he played in the SEC and his 4.42 speed is a good thing as well.

[Stripes]

Zimmer's defense could probably work efficiently with a lot of generally poor players at strong safety, because his schemes demand such a specific skill set from them. Roy Williams, Chris Crocker, Taylor Mays, Robert Sands, etc. all have somewhat similar skills at varying levels and filled the same role despite some very obvious weaknesses in their games. Shawn Williams need only play better football than the scrubs behind him within that very same role, and I've little doubt he will. The intellectual aspect of his game is just icing on the cake if it actually amounts to anything.

[HoosierCat]

The intellectual aspect of his game is just icing on the cake if it actually amounts to anything.

I would disagree strongly with this. The biggest reason they brought Crocker back last season wasn't that Mays stunk, it was that neither he nor Nelson could handle getting the defense set on the field. Williams' smarts are a huge asset.

[TJJackson]

100% agreement with Hoosier on this

It is his intelligence and ability to set the defense (which is in no small part dictated by intelligence) that turned my opinion around on him, all the way from "hated the pick" to "love the pick"

[ArmyBengal]

The inability of any of the other safeties on this team to step up and give more than what Crocker brought off his couch is staggering.

They could scrap the bunch of them and it wouldn't hurt my feelings. Miles is good on teams, so he can stay.

I just hate how the team addresses this position.

Just give me someone that allows this team to not have to call someone in off the couch to perform better than the others and i'm good.

[ArmyBengal]

I always go looking for info on Williams due to him being in a position to be a real impact player early on.

This is some of what I found:

Cincinnati Bengals' Best Fit: S Shawn Williams, Georgia, Third Round, No. 84 overall

Boasting one of the league's most impressive defensive fronts and having received surprisingly solid play at linebacker and cornerback in 2012, safety -- strong safety in particular -- was an obvious area of concern for Cincinnati heading into the 2013 NFL Draft.

Sources suggest the Bengals were targeting Kenny Vaccaro and Eric Reid with their No. 21 overall pick but elected to fill other positions of concern when each was taken shortly before Cincinnati's turn on the clock. The Bengals could wind up the big winners due to their patience (as well as the depth of the 2013 safety class) because Williams in the third round could make an immediate impact.

Although not as fluid in coverage as Vaccaro or Reid, Williams' versatility and toughness should help him fit in well in Cincinnati. Williams, among my favorite prospects this year, didn't get the national attention that some of the other Georgia Bulldogs received but his recognition (he made the secondary calls) and thunderous hits consistently stood out on tape. Every bit as impressive as his tape was Williams' competitive spirit. And while the Bengals won't necessarily condone Williams' comments while at Georgia, the aggressive mind-set and leadership he showed with the Bulldogs could make him a quality fit in one of the most physical and competitive divisions in the NFL.

It is the combination of these traits -- both physical and mental -- which could make Williams a "surprise" starter at strong safety for a Bengals' club that looks poised for yet another playoff run in 2013.

/>http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/blog/rob-rang/22278999/finding-the-fits-williams-poised-to-earn-his-stripes-with-bengals

Then there was this write up about what Williams said at Georgia when his unit wasn't doing so well:

No one will blame Georgia senior safety Shawn Williams for being frustrated with the play of his Bulldogs defense. Billed as one of the top units in the nation preseason, Georgia is instead a mediocre 49th in the FBS in total defense and now fresh off giving up 206 rushing yards to a Kentucky team that had only crossed the 100-yard mark in three of its seven games coming in.

So it's no surprise to hear Williams say that his fellow Bulldogs defenders need some kind of motivational spark ahead of this week's make-or-break showdown with archrival (and BCS No. 2) Florida. But arguing for this particular motivational spark will no doubt raise some eyebrows. From the Macon Telegraph:

"It seems like we need the coach from the Saints, it seems like we need him. It seems like we need a pay-for-play system. That's what it seems like we need though. We need Sean Payton."

Telegraph reporter Sean Emerson wrote that Williams "seemed only half-joking" when saying that Mark Richt needed to institute his own bounty program.

And my personal favorite part of that one comment:

"We've gotta stop playing soft. We're playing too soft defensively. That goes for D-line, linebackers, corners, safeties. I don't know, we're not playing with the same attitude we played with last year. I don't know what it is ...

I'm trying to see if I just have to take someone's helmet off and just slap them, or what's going on? We're not playing with any emotion right now, period."

/>http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/blog/eye-on-college-football/20656485/georgia-safety-shawn-williams-we-need-saints-style-pay-for-play-system