Can Arizona Cardinals Trust Veteran OT?

Once upon a time, Jonah Williams was one of the greatest offensive tackle prospects I’ve ever seen enter the NFL draft. In the years since, he has failed to consistently live up to that hype, mainly due to injuries. That was the case a year ago in his debut with the Arizona Cardinals - and he will be hoping for a different outcome this year.

The Cardinals will need it out of him, as well. He signed a decent contract and provided almost no return on investment out the gate. The hope was for him to lock down the right side of the offensive line, but he couldn’t even find the field due to injury.

As far as we know, Williams should be healthy for training camp, and he also appears to be the front runner to win the strong side tackle position. But will that be the case by the end of things?

I’m listing off reasons to buy and sell Williams to be a reliable and certainly consistent starter for the Cardinals this year and rounding it out by presenting my verdict.

Why I’m buying:

A healthy Williams is an above average starter at offensive tackle. We’ve previously seen him play well on either side of the line as well, which provides the Cardinals comfort, knowing in any kind of pinch that he can play either side.

Williams also is still on the younger side of things with athleticism to match with today’s modern pass rushers. Provided he didn’t take a drastic drop off in play, he can provide reliability outside for this offensive line. 

Why I’m selling:

I said many, many times that I don’t like giving players the injury tag label with the exception of those who deal with such on a near annual basis. Williams falls into that category, and it is become impossible for me to trust him with any role, let alone a starting spot. 

Even from what we saw when Williams was on the field last year, I wasn’t overly encouraged. Could he be a plus starter? Sure, but he’s much closer to being average at best than anything more than that.

Verdict: SELL

Until Williams can prove he can stay healthy I simply cannot place any legitimate stock into him whatsoever. There may be a need at offensive tackle and Williams is the likely starter for the role, but I don’t trust him to hold it down.

And a friendly reminder that I prefer Kelvin Beachum to be the starting strong side tackle, regardless of Williams health.