Arizona Cardinals Dan Williams 2015 Free Agent Profile

There are several talented impending free agent defensive tackles this offseason with Ndamukong Suh and Terrance Knighton headlining the list, and Henry Melton, Jared Odrick, and Nick Fairley also find themselves on that shortlist. But if a team is looking for a run-stuffing anchor to play the nose, then Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Dan Williams could be an excellent alternative, especially for pure 3-4 teams.

Williams has benefited from playing with 3-4 defensive end stalwarts Calais Campbell and Darnell Dockett during his time with the Cardinals, but he’s played well enough to earn praise as one of the game’s top run defenders on the line. He recorded 32 tackles last season as the big man in the middle of the Cards defense.

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Per Pro Football Focus, Williams was seventh among all defensive tackles last season in Run Stop%, which is a stat that looks at the percentage of successful tackles a player had per their overall snaps in the running game. The only impending free agent DT with a better Run Stop% last season was Ndamukong Suh, so it’s fair to say that outside of the two marquee impending free agent DTs (Suh and Knighton), Williams is the best run-plugger.

With two potentially expensive options heading to the free agent market and set to make big bucks as true difference-makers on the line, cap-mindful rebuilding teams or cash-strapped contenders could look to Williams, at least initially, as a cheaper alternative. From then on, all bets are off when it comes to how high his price could go, since that will be dictated by the overall interest in him, which, in turn, will be dictated by what happens to Suh and Knighton.

There’s still a chance the Detroit Lions could keep Suh around, and Fairley is their easy fallback option if they can’t lock Suh up. Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos have finally been negotiating harder with Knighton and seem to be prioritizing him over Julius Thomas, who will almost certainly hit the free agent market.

The question is, will Williams hit the free agent market? You could argue that he’s the Cardinals biggest priority in free agency over cornerback Antonio Cromartie, because Williams outplayed Cro. That makes up for the fact that cornerback is a more important position in this passing league, since the positional importance between NT and CB is about even for the Cardinals. What do I mean by that? Well, the Cards have an elite corner in Patrick Peterson and elite DEs in Campbell and Dockett, and while that makes it seem like CB is more important, you can’t discount the impact of other DBs like Tyrann Mathieu.

Williams does a great job of making plays in the running game and plugging up holes for others, but he also improves the passing game in a subtle manner. At 6’3″, 314 pounds, Williams’s size commands attention in the passing game, and this helps free up the likes of Campbell to go after the passer. He doesn’t have a profound impact in the passing game and does not play as often on passing downs, but he knows how to use his size in a way that prevents him from becoming a liability on passing downs.

That’s important, since total run-stuffers often don’t make as much on the free agent market, so that gives Dan Williams a better shot at picking up the kind of money he seems to be looking for. Based on the fact that we’ve heard absolutely no news of negotiations between both sides, it seems like Williams is set on seeing what’s out there, and the Cardinals are willing to let him. They could find a talented replacement in the draft with a high pick, and then Williams would become a talented addition for another team.

I could see him succeeding as a run-stopping DT in a 4-3 scheme if need be, since we’ve seen guys like Seattle Seahawks veteran run-stuffer Tony McDaniel star as one-dimensional tackles in that scheme. McDaniel was brilliant in 2013, but his decline in play this past season could make him a cap casualty, so Williams could make the in-division jump to the back-to-back NFC champions, or he could join another contender in the Denver Broncos or even the New England Patriots should things go south with Knighton and Vince Wilfork.

There are a lot of possible scenarios for Williams in free agency, since there are contenders- add the Indianapolis Colts to that list- who would love to land one of the NFL’s best run defenders. When he’s on top of his game, Williams is an immovable force against the run who is capable of stuffing runs on his own, and while he’s a better fit for a 3-4 team like Indy, we’ve seen players like him succeed in other schemes.

Sep 15, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Arizona Cardinals defensive tackle Dan Williams (92) against the Detroit Lions at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Hilderbrand-USA TODAY Sports

It will be interesting to see if talks between Williams and the Cardinals heat up again, because it’s clear that he was a very important part of their defense last season. After Campbell, Peterson, and Mathieu, Williams might be their best defensive player, and he is at least one of their top five most important players on defense, depending on where you put Dockett.

I’d probably take Williams over Dockett when it comes to value for the Cardinals, since Williams is 27 and holds an important place at the heart of the Cardinals run defense. He isn’t irreplaceable by any means, but he’s a key member of this defense due to the way he anchors at the line, allowing others in the front seven to have more room to operate.

While Williams isn’t a top-notch defensive tackle, he is a very good one, and he will come at a more affordable price for most teams. Some teams will just want to beef up on the line, specifically to improve their run defense and free up other members of the defense, so Williams could be an intriguing fit for playoff squads like the Colts next season.

Next: Williams an option for Green Bay Packers?

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