Yahoo Sports’ Nate Tice and The Ringer’s Diante Lee break down the often undervalued skillset of the Cowboys 7th-year defensive tackle. Check out the full conversation on “Football 301” – and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
I think that he’s kind of fallen by the wayside in the hierarchy of impactful defensive players, but that is a guy you’ve gotta go and watch.
And when I went back and I was watching him in New York, especially his most productive games, when you knew he was locked in and not extra frustrated about the state of the franchise, and it’s like, oh man, this is not just a B, B+ defensive tackle.
This is an A-, A defensive tackle when he is locked in.
And I, I think that, you know, what we saw in the second half of the season once he got with Dallas, you started to see little bits of that.
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And I think that the Fangio system has always been at its best when it has a defensive tackle like Quinnen, somebody who can play on early and pass downs, somebody you can bump around that can play the nose, the four eye, a three tech.
You can kick him out to an edge if you really wanna play power rush games with him as well.
He sets up your stunts.
He’s a guy that can slant.
Like, there’s no limit to what his skillset can give you defensively, and I think that we just don’t always calibrate for that the best way on this side of the ball.
I think it’s very easy for people to look at tight ends, slot receivers, running backs, and talk about all the ways in which they can, you know, affect the gravity of a defense.
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We don’t talk enough- Yeah about what a skillset like Quinnen Williams can do to an offense, and I think that he just hasn’t been in the right context to really maximize that.
I would not be surprised, though, if we see a much better version of that where he’s really cut loose again being in Dallas with Christian Parker as a defensive play caller.