It’s as easy as aligning in more spots.
Like many of his teammates, Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams had a down year in 2024. His struggles were not really about his usage. That said, I would argue that the way the Jets utilized Williams under Robert Saleh and Jeff Ulbrich did make him a bit easier to neutralize. In 2022 and 2023, Williams was so dominant that it didn’t matter. In 2024, his level of play had more to do with his struggles than what I am about to mention. But if the goal is to get the best out of Quinnen Williams in 2025 and beyond, it could be worth it for the Jets to think about diversifying his alignments.
When Williams lined up at defensive tackle last season, he was on the right side more than 90 percent of the time.
On early downs, the Jets primarily used what is known as an over front.
Now this is an oversimplification, but in an over front the alignment of the defensive tackles is generally determined by where the tight end is located (red). The side with the tight end is the strong side of the formation. The tackle to that side aligns between the center and the guard (yellow). The tackle to the other side aligns on the outside shoulder of the guard (orange).
As you can probably see, the guy in the yellow (Javon Kinlaw) is aligned at a spot where he is certain to get a double team, while Quinnen in orange is aligned in a spot that will probably get him a one on one.
However, it was more frequent for Williams to end up in the double team spot.
One of my big complaints about the Jets defense has been that it is too easy to manipulate. If you know Williams is going to align on the right side frequently, it becomes simple to figure out how to make sure he is double teamed. The alignment of the offensive formation can take care of that in many instances. Again, when Williams was at defensive tackle, he essentially lived full time on the right side.
ESPN Analytics tracked double teams on defensive tackles and found that Williams got one 62 percent of the time in 2024.
Now of course circumstances are different, and we don’t know that Aaron Glenn is necessarily going to do everything the exact same way he did with the Lions. That said, Detroit tended to have its defensive tackles flip between the two sides. Levi Onwuzurike, DJ Reader, and. Alim McNeill saw extensive action on both the left and right sides, approaching a 50/50 split.
Again, this is complex. I want to reiterate that this was not the only problem with Quinnen Williams in 2024. What I just mentioned didn’t stop him from having greater success in 2022 and 2023. The Jets also did make efforts on passing downs to move him to spots where he could get a favorable matchup.
There are a number of changes that could benefit Quinnen Williams. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a more diverse set of fronts from the Jets defense this coming season. It also wouldn’t hurt to have somebody better than Kinlaw benefitting from the one on ones double teaming Quinnen creates. A better partner might make defenses think twice about sending all of their doubles his way.
Still I think the Aaron Glenn defense could put him in a better position to produce. He could find himself hunting favorable matchups simply by aligning in a more diverse set of spots presnap.