Despite the poor outcome of the Denver Broncos' 2020 season, one player deserves a gold star. DeShawn Williams came in playing on a beat-up defensive line, made some big plays, and executed very well for the team.
Williams' story is a great one as this is his third stint with the Broncos over his six-year career as he bounced around the NFL. He entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2015 out of Clemson, where he signed with the Cincinnati Bengals and stayed with them until 2017.
In 2018, Williams had his first stint with Denver, then Miami, and then Indianapolis before coming back to Denver in 2019. From there, he went up north to play in the Canadian Football League before Denver brought him back.
Last season, Williams ended up starting 11 of the 14 games he played in for the Broncos and saw a total of 436 snaps. He totaled 17 pressures with two sacks as a pass rusher and picked up 18 stops on defense.
While Williams played a smaller role, he really made an impact and helped lessen the blow of losing players like Mike Purcell and Jurrell Casey for the season early on, and that's without mentioning the multiple games Dre’Mont Jones and Shelby Harris had to miss, too.
As the Broncos get ready to enter the 2021 season, Williams should have a spot pretty well locked up on the 53-man roster. He showed he belongs there with the big boys as a key depth piece to help keep others rested.
There is versatility with Williams to play inside as a 0-to-1-technique and he can even move outside to be a 4-to-4i-to-5-technique on the defensive front. This is the type of player coaches love to have.
Above all else, Williams is the type of person whose perseverance makes you want to root for him.
Be sure to check out the video above for a deeper dive into Williams' 2021 outlook.
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