Trevor Williams: Evaluate after preseason
In January, the Eagles quietly signed Trevor Williams to a futures contract. While Williams was a reliable starter for the Los Angeles Chargers at the start of his career, he suffered injuries in recent years that sent him off course.
Hopefully, Philadelphia ends up being the place where he can resurrect his career.
In 2016, Williams came into the league undrafted and signed with the Chargers. Initially, he was on the practice squad, but got promoted to the active roster in early October due to injuries at the cornerback position.
Williams spent most of his time on special teams, but also started in five of the 12 games at cornerback.
No one could have expected the jump Williams took in his sophomore year after moving up on the depth chart due to another injury to a cornerback that forced him into the lineup in Week 2.
Due to the injury, Williams started every game for the rest of the season and played 96 percent of the Chargers’ defensive snaps. PFF gave Williams a grade of 79.1, and he finished the year with 56 total tackles, 13 passes defended and two interceptions.
Williams started the first seven games of 2018 and collected 22 total tackles to go along with four passes defended, and one interception.
However, Williams was eventually put on injured reserve after he injured his knee midway through the season. 2019 wasn’t too kind to Williams either, as he started the season on injured reserve before the Chargers decided to waive him.
Luckily for Williams, the Arizona Cardinals added him for a couple of weeks, although he played just 16 snaps on special teams before the team ended up releasing him.
If all goes well for Williams with the Eagles, the cornerback will be eager to get back on the field this preseason and show Philadelphia what he can offer to the team.
Williams’ case for a roster spot will largely depend upon his preseason performance, especially since this is a new defensive scheme to learn, and he has to show that his fallout from the injuries was just a small bump in the road.
If he sticks around, it will be nice to have another veteran in the cornerback room.
The Eagles have made it a priority to acquire players who stay fairly healthy like Slay (nine missed games in seven seasons) or Robey-Coleman (one missed game in seven seasons).
Not to metnion, Parks has only missed two games in four seasons, and defensive tackle Javon Hargrave has only missed one game in that same timeframe.
With all this in mind, if Williams doesn’t stay on the field in the preseason, his chances of making the roster for the Eagles will take a big hit.