Tight end D.J. Williams is off to a fast start with Packers
Before anyone puts Marshall Newhouse and D.J. Williams in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, let me tell you a story. In 1988, I covered the Philadelphia Eagles’ training camp for a local TV station. That team featured a head coach named Buddy Ryan and high-profile players like quarterback Randall Cunningham, tight end Keith Jackson, wide receiver Cris Carter, defensive end Reggie White, linebacker Seth Joyner and cornerback Eric Allen. So guess who I was sent to interview about a week into camp? Martin Booker, a little-known wide receiver from Villanova who had spent the previous season on injured reserve. Why him? Because the incredibly fast word-class hurdler had been lighting up Lehigh University for days.
I went into the cafeteria and found Booker (who, by the way, turned out to be one of the nicest professional athletes I ever met). As we walked the few hundred yards to where the cameras were set up, hundreds of fans cheered wildly (not for me). They loved the hometown hero who proved to be the one receiver the strong-armed Cunningham could never overthrow. After the interview, I shook hands with Booker and wished him the best of luck. He gave me a smile and started on his long walk back to the dorms. He would be gone less than three weeks later.
Life at Lehigh became a lot more difficult for Booker once he started running routes against the No. 1 corners. He was no longer able to get away from the line of scrimmage as easily as he did against backups Izel Jenkins and Eric Everett, and even with his blazing speed, he wasn’t able to separate himself from Allen and fellow Pro Bowler Roynell Young. Booker soon started to slide his way back down the depth chart. By the end of the following week, nobody was cheering for him anymore. Nobody wanted to interview him anymore. In fact, even the coaches seemed to have forgotten about him.
That’s the thing to remember about young players in training camp – the better they do early, the more difficult the challenges become later. Newhouse won’t be facing second-year defensive lineman C.J. Wilson and rookie outside linebacker Ricky Elmore all summer. Pretty soon, the competition will be much stiffer – both in practice and especially in the preseason games. That applies to Williams as well. The middle of the field will look a lot different in a few weeks when the starters take more repetitions in practice and players from the Browns are fighting to make a good impression on new coach Pat Shurmer.
Look, I’m not down on Newhouse and Williams. In fact, I’ve written extremely positive things about both players. But I’ve already had a number of Packer fans – very smart Packer fans – ask me if Newhouse is now the heir apparent at left tackle or if Williams could push Jermichael Finley out the door after the season. And they’re asking me that after one practice in pads. One! Just remember – the coaches, the local beat reporters and 99.9% of the blogs (not this one, of course) were praising offensive tackle Breno Giacomini at this time a year ago. A lot can change between Aug. 1 and Aug. 20. Just ask Martin Booker.
-Photo on home page by Corey Wilson/Press-Gazette
Absolutely right. Excellent post. Newhouse has very little actual NFL game experience, 4 preseason games, which is really the best way to judge an offensive lineman. Allen Barbre was a stud in shorts and he almost got Rodgers killed. Sherrod is going to be the back-up/future starter at LT until he proves he is incapable.
Who out there is ready to put either guy into the Hall of Fame? Nobody, but it’s more than fair to be excited about progress.
That’s called hyperbole.
I think Williams will be fine. I’d really like to see Newhouse continue to impress though.
Great post. That said, this might be my favorite time of the year. Love hearing about 1st and 2nd year players doing well or improving.
Thank you captain obvious, and who said anything about the hall of fricking fame? Everyone is commenting on what they see and how they think it might play out according to what they see now. Shit happens, things change.
Most of us know no decisions are being made right now, this is all part of the evaluation process and it will continue until it is decision time.
Like a boxing match we are just keeping score, you can win every round and still get knocked out in the closing minutes.
Cool story. I remember those Eagles teams. Great defenses but Buddy ignored the offense.
I’d take Eric Allen over Deion Sanders.
Mike; Packer fans have their own story; the first (or second) TT draft a 5th round draft pick from some unknown college named Michal Hawkins lit up training camp for a couple of weeks and then faded off to a non-descipt career as a backup for a couple of teams. I get excited in the 3rd Preseason game when they are fighting for starting time or a key backup job and not before!
Hawkins unknown college was the University of Oklahoma. However he had left and was playing arena ball when he was drafted.
I think it’s OK to get excited at this point as long as you are aware that it is early and much can and will change between now and opening day. Every year a few players take the next step and part of the fun of being a fan is trying to spot those upgrades. Hey, I ranted for years that the Pack’s best ILB was sitting on the bench. But that’s another story. Shields was a great story last year. Tramon Williams ascending to greatness was even better. Charlie Peprah gave them what they needed when they needed it – toughness at the other safety position. Raji blossomed. Zombo was a good story. Green and Walden made important late contributions as well. If Shields can continue to develop and Burnett can honestly beat out Peprah, those will be good stories this year. Similarly with Mike Neal, CJ Wilson and the three amigos at ROLB. I have always liked Francois as well. Then there’s the newly drafted guys on defense: House; Williams(?); and, Guy. What if one of those makes a great early impression. This is why we all pay attention now and not just wait for bell to ring on the regular season.
Pack v Saints!!!
Uh, you forgot Elmore but I forgive you.
Speaking of House and early impressions, it looks like hes making a good one in the early going. Seems to be bright and from the looks of it he can play at this level, the game is not too big for him.
Not bad for the Kampman 4th round compensatory pick if I don’t say so myself.