Add Quinnen Williams to the list of ideal trade targets between Titans and Jets
By Will Lomas
Quinnen Williams, DT
The great news for the Jets is that they don’t have to look like fools here. Last year the Miami Dolphins bit the bullet and traded MInkah Fitzpatrick for a 1st round pick from the Steelers, who at the time looked like a bottom-10 team in the NFL.
It was a deal that made both teams look good because the Dolphins weren’t going to win many games in 2019 and having a great defensive player at a non-premium position wasn’t going to do them any good at all. Notice any similarities?
Another similar thread between the two teams is that both Alabama prospects didn’t light it up without talent around them in their rookie season. Using Pro Football Reference’s AV (approximate value) statistic, Fitzpatrick’s rookie year was a “4” and Quinnen Williams was a “5”.
For context, Fitzpatrick’s was a “19” this season.
The Tennessee Titans have talent at defensive tackle the same way that the Steelers had talent in the back seven. Several players around him can be dominant if given the chance, and they might be worth more than the sum of their parts if they were together.
Williams was a consensus top-5 overall prospect in his draft as was Fitzpatrick in his year. In fact, Dane Brugler had both Fitzpatrick and Williams as the #2 overall player in their class.
Both are rare players that are talented enough to deserve a 1st round draft pick in a trade, but who don’t play a premium position and can’t take over games by themselves.
If you were a Titans’ fan, would trade a first round pick to have a defensive line that looked like this:
Harold Landry-Quinnen Williams-Jeffery Simmons-Jadeveon Clowney
If you were a Jets’ fan, would you give up Williams to have a 2020 draft haul that looked like this in the top-40 picks:
-Ja’mar Chase WR, LSU
-Rondale Moore WR, Purdue
-Alex Leatherwood OT, Alabama
-Trey Smith iOL, Tennessee
Both sides should absolutely say yes, and it is a deal that likely won’t happen, but one that would help both teams reach their goals much quicker.
Now that I have touched on this fever dream or a possibility, let’s go through the much more reasonable list of names that the Titans could target from the Jets.