The Most Important Packers: No. 16 — Evan Williams

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The Green Bay Packers went 11-6 last season, sweeping the NFC West and the AFC South along the way.

Overall, though, no one in the building was happy.

The Packers failed to build on their terrific finish to the 2023 campaign, settled for the No. 7 seed in the NFC playoffs, and lost a Wild Card game to eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia.

Afterwards, general manager Brian Gutekunst turned up the heat on everybody in the building.

“We need to continue to ramp up our sense of urgency,” Gutekunst said. “I think it’s time we started competing for championships.”

Those are fair expectations.

The Packers return 20 of 22 starters, and appear to have upgraded the roster via free agency and the draft. With several third and fourth year players trending upward, Green Bay should be poised to make a move.

“I think they’re ready,” Gutekunst said.

Now, it’s time for the Packers to prove their G.M. right.

Green Bay’s first training camp practice is July 23. Between now and then I will count down the ‘30 Most Important Packers’ heading into the 2025 campaign.

At No. 16 is safety Evan Williams.

No. 16

Evan Williams, S

Last season

Williams was named to the Professional Football Writers of America (PFWA) All-Rookie team after an impressive first season.

Williams made six starts and played in 13 games as a rookie. He had an interception, forced a fumble, had three passes defensed and 47 tackles.

Williams didn’t play a single snap in the Packers’ Week 1 loss to Philadelphia in Brazil, and he played just 34 snaps from scrimmage in Green Bay’s first four games. But he moved into the starting lineup in Week 5 and made six starts overall.

What slowed Williams were hamstring and quadriceps injuries, as well as a late-season concussion. In all, Williams missed four games and couldn’t finish two others.

“He's got to continue to learn his body,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of Williams. “Because I know we had, there were some injuries last year just to make sure that he's available.”

Career to date

Williams played four seasons at Fresno State before transferring to Oregon in 2023.

During his five college seasons, Williams recorded 307 tackles, 16 tackles for loss, 5½ sacks, four quarterback hurries, four interceptions, 16 passes defensed, four forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries.

Overall, Williams earned some type of all-conference honors each of his final four college seasons.

Outlook

Williams passed fellow rookie Javon Bullard and earned a starting safety job next to Xavier McKinney after a month last season. If Williams can stay healthy, he should keep that position — and could become one of the NFL’s top young safeties.

Williams posted a 71.9 grade from Pro Football Focus in his first six games of 2024. In his final seven games, though — when injuries hit — Williams had an average grade of 58.3.

Williams has the intelligence and athleticism to develop into a high level safety. The key will be staying on the field.

They Said It …

“He can be as good as he wants to be. I think he has a weapon in his brain with how smart he is and how aware he is. That accelerates your ability to play early in this league because you can grasp the concepts and what we're trying to get done.” — Packers defensive backs coach Ryan Downard on Williams

“I feel like I’m a guy that learns through experience, learns through being in the fire more than just sitting back and watching. I feel like each rep, each step I’m taking this year, I’m just gaining confidence, gaining experience. Honestly I’m just looking to take that step being a confident football player out there and hopefully I’ll have the defense just playbook in my back pocket so I can take that next step and think about other things; think about ok what is the offense trying to do here? What is this formation telling me? I feel like I could take steps in that department and taking it a step further and becoming a more proactive player rather than just being reactive.” — Williams on having a year of experience

“I think just building on what he’s already done and being consistent with it again. Another guy that loves the game. He's extremely intelligent. He comes in with the right mentality. And he just works.” — Packers coach Matt LaFleur on what Williams must do to improve