With a slew of coaches being let go tomorrow headlined by Dirk Koetter , Arthur Smith is starting to bring his staff together.
Special Teams rankings are sort of a weird statistic, but Detroit ranked first in the NFL for Field Goals Allowed and Field Goal Percentage Allowed. The Lions also held opponents to the fourth fewest punt return yards. In the same breath, a lot of these statistics play into how well the defense is performing, so they aren’t the end-all for telling Williams’ story. From Detroit’s profile on Williams:
In 2019, he assisted in the success of cornerback Jamal Agnew, who led the League in overall return touchdowns (2) that season.
As a defensive assistant with the Chargers in 2018, Williams assisted the ninth-best defensive unit (333.7 ypg allowed) in the League and guided rookie safety Derwin James to his first-career Pro Bowl.
Prior to joining the Lions, Williams spent three years with the Chargers from 2016-2018, so he should be familiar with Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo. Williams was at South Dakota from 2012-2015 coaching linebackers and special teams as well. Special teams have been a sore spot in Atlanta for a while, so hopefully he can build on the success of Younghoe Koo’s Pro Bowl Season and Sterling Hofrichter’s promising start. After Atlanta’s horrific blunder with an onside kick against Dallas, a change was certainly needed.
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