Word that the Jets were open to trading defensive lineman Leonard Williams was proven correct on Monday, but Williams won’t have to change much about his daily routine.
He’ll still be playing his home games at MetLife Stadium and will just have to program his GPS to go to the Giants’ training facility in New Jersey. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that the Jets have agreed to trade Williams to the Giants for a 2020 third-round pick and a 2021 fifth-round pick. The fifth-round pick will become a fourth-rounder if the Giants extend Williams’s contract and the Jets are paying $4 million of the $6 million left on his deal.
It’s the first time the two teams have completed a trade since 1983. Williams will get a chance to play his former team in Week 10.
Williams is in the final year of the deal he signed after the Jets drafted him with the sixth overall pick in 2015. Given the Giants’ 2-6 record this year and the use of future picks to acquire Williams, one would think they’d like to extend his contract beyond this year but there’s no word of anything on that front at this point.
Williams has 20 tackles while starting all seven games for the Jets this year. He’s been a reliable presence up front for the Jets as he hasn’t missed a game since joining the team, but his play never quite reached the level that some predicted when he left USC. The Giants hope they’ll push the right buttons to get him to that point.
