Vince Willams

unfortunately I didn't get to watch most of the games last season, so I didn't get a great chance to analyze Vince and form my own opinion about him.

Could you guys let me know what you thought of him?

I hear so many different assessments of his play last year by steeler fans I don't know what to truly think.

I'm wondering if you thought.

He showed talent....

Was terrible.....

will develop into a solid starter...

needs to be replaced......ect.

Thanks in advance for any input, good or bad it's all appreciated!

 

I like the guy. I thought he did fine for a rookie LB calling plays. He's one of the players i'm looking forward to seeing this season. I think he has a bit of a nasty side to him also, which i like.

 

Ditto... Think he could be solid for us.

 

He showed heart. He showed spunk. He played with an attitude. He seems to have a passion for the game. He may not be the most talented guy on the field, but neither was Hines Ward. I liked what I saw and look forward to seeing how he develops between year one and year two.

 

I think a good consensus might be: he wasn't good compared to what we've come to expect from the ILB position over the years (Kirkland, Holmes, Farrior, Timmons), but for a rookie he showed a lot of promise, and he could be pretty good once the game slows down for him.

He's definitely already physical and can hit, which is a plus.

 

if you watch him the first half of the season you seen a guy who hustled and was just real close to making some plays. by the end of the year he was making those plays. I remember the first cincy game on the goal line running back hit the hole, hit vince and scored. a late game I think cincy again. he stopped him cold in the hole. he had great position and I think was a lot more comfortable in what he was doing

I think he will be a very good lb for years to come

 

He's solid more a 2 down type ILB, and as a rookie I think he was calling the defensive signals.

 

I thought he would be a guy that would develop for this year, but he was forced to and earned to start. He was a 6th round pick, I believe. He played ok overall, and great for a late round rookie.

I think he will improve and be a solid 2 down starter at minimum.

 

Dear god, I give my opinion on him the other day, and people wanted to firebomb my car. Is he great? Not yet, and maybe never? He played ok, and that's all one could say. Time will tell with him, but I still think this is a position we need an grade? Now, if he pans out and be comes what we had in the past, as a 6 th rd pick that's a steal, but there are a couple of ILB in the draft that would be great additions, so we shall see.

 

he was a little of everything you mentioned.. he showed talent.. he was at times terrible.. he was at times good... he was a lot better the second part of the season ... he could be a good player for 10 years and i wouldnt be shocked or he could be replaced in this draft and i wouldnt be shocked..

HINES

 

I was thinking about those two situations as well. Whether his ceiling is as high as other guys we could draft... I guess is for the coaches to decide.

 

I don't have really high hopes for Vince Williams. There was a disturbing trend in his play time down the stretch last year that sort of indicated the coaches were not pleased with his play and/or learning curve.

From games 2 to 9 (after the Foote injury), Williams was the defacto "starter". He played 275 snaps out of 518 plays (53%).

After the Buffalo game, things changed. The team went much more to a "nickle base" and Williams was pretty much benched. His play counts from games 10 to 14 totaled 83 out of 341 (24.3%).

What is even more disturbing is what happened the last two weeks, when Steveson Sylvester was pushed ahead of Williams on the depth chart. Sylvester played 86 snaps those last two weeks vs. 40 for Williams.

When a guy that's not on the roster, was a street free agent from weeks 1-4 last year comes back into the program in October and then is taking your snaps at the end of the year?

Not a good sign.

In all honesty it's a step back for Vince Williams. Granted he was pushed into way too many snaps early in his rookie year and he wasn't ready (as evidence by our signing Sylvester in the first place).

But you can't be excited about his future (especially as a potential starter) if he was phased out of the defense by Thanksgiving last year.

Williams is probably at best a career backup and a 2-down player. The experience he got last year is a plus but the film probably indicated he's a liability if forced to be a "starter". I would be worried about the message is sends about the competition if Williams comes out of camp as our starting LILB. It probably means another season of a lot of nickle and dime packages and very limited 4-LB sets (50-60%).

 

Whatever injury he had didn't keep him out of any game.

He had 7, 22, 8, 17, 29, 15 and 25 snaps the last 7 games.

And Kion Wilson never "started there" first. Williams was not active week 1, so that's why Wilson played the 9 snaps to close out week 1 game when Foote got hurt.

In week 2, Williams played 42 vs. 21 for Wilson. Week 3, Williams played 32 to 11 for Wilson. Wilson never played another snap after that (released in early October).

I'm just trying to show that Williams play last year was not good enough to increase his playing time from the coaches. In fact, his playing time was reduced.

You can read into that whatever you want (including nothing). I don't. I read into it that Williams has some holes in his game and the coaches made a decision to go a different direction than continue to play him and his liabilities.

Will year 2 fix or improve those liabilities? Maybe. Maybe not. It's not like Williams started out with elite physical traits. It's not like Williams was a premier college talent to start with.

When you put it all together: his draft grade, his "measurables", what he put on tape last year (in 400 snaps) and his decreased playing time, it doesn't really add up to be optimistic about his potential as a "good" starter.

 

Agree. Larry Foote wasn't that great either when he started but became a steady performer.

 

Thanks for the numbers. Last week I said he seemed to be the guy who won the job by default due to the lack of talent at the position. He's good for depth for sure, but ILB has to be boosted. Add in Shazier and problem solved

 

The decreased playing time could say more about those around him (the DBs, Sylvester, whatever) than Williams. What I mean is, it seems likely to me that they threw all those snaps at him in weeks 2-9 because they didn't have much choice. Then, as they felt better about Sylvester - who is not just some street guy they got in October; he had 3 years in the system - they were able to throttle down Williams. Our coaches don't want some rookie out there at ILB. They like to bring them along slowly.

I think a Larry Foote-type career could definitely be in the cards for Vince. That's not great praise from me, because I spent a lot of Foote's years begging for the team to replace him. But he did ultimately become a valuable part of the team and has had a great career for a 4th round pick. Williams was a 6th rounder. If he turns out like Foote I think that's a win. Of course, I'd like him to be better than that, and not take so long to get there. I think that's very possible.

deljzc, you raise an interesting point about what the coaches might be thinking, based on his playing time. But I remember hearing lots of positive things about him from the coaches. I thought they were really high on him. So there's that.

 

My take is Williams has already reached his ceiling.....He may be a serviceable LB in the league for the next 10 years....he may be out of the league after 3.,,,but I really don't see him becoming "THE MAN"


HACK

 

Do we need we really need for Vince to be the man though with Timmons right next to him? Vince is replacing Larry Foote after all. I am very interested how much Vince improves in his second year, his game speed will quicken once he is sure of himself.

I would love a top tier ILB in the draft, but they are already invested in Timmons, and I feel Timmons really stepped up his game last year, he has finally become the LB I felt he could be.

Vince has a lot going for him, his passion an leadership skills for starters. He is aggressive against the run and once he masters the pro game he will cut down on the mistakes.

 

i'm curious to see garvin next year

 

Me too. This guy is kind of a wild card, since he hasn't been playing ILB for very long yet has seen some positive game action. Who knows what his ceiling is...

As for Williams, I was happy with what he did coming in as a late round rookie. I hope his game continues to improve. It is hard to tell where exactly his ceiling lies, but it looks like he will be a 2 down LB for his career. If he can learn how to consistently make plays and be very good against the run, then he will have a nice little niche on this team whether it is as a solid back up or as a 2 down starter. We shall see.

 

In all seriousness, I think Arthur Moats is a much better ILB next to Timmons than Vince Williams ever will be. Moats has size, some pass rush ability and is a more agile than Williams. Moats is also probably smarter, has more experience and will likely be ready to quarterback Lebeau's defense if called upon after training camp.

I know we're all hoping for Spence to come in and wow us with his comeback but to me the depth chart right now at LILB is Moats, Williams, Spence.

It's not ideal, but a linebacking core of Worilds - Moats - Timmons - Jones does offer Lebeau some interesting matchup options. Might not be the best group for man-under coverages and other than Timmons, I don't want those guys having to turn and run with TE's and RB's, but it's a physical group that all can blitz and beat RB's one-on-one if the scheme isolates them.