Cardinals CB Wildly Disrespected in PFF Rankings

It's no secret that I am incredibly partial to Garrett Williams, who has shown tremendous potential in his first two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. Williams plays the nickel spot for this defense and he's as difficult to beat in coverage as any. It hasn't taken long for him to become one of the league's best kept secrets.

Unfortunately, it appears that he will pay the price for being a secret, meaning we should prepare for apparent disrespect to his placing on rankings and lists for the foreseeable future.

Pro Football Focus released their top-32 cornerback rankings ahead of the 2025 season and placed Williams at number 22. Yeah, that doesn't sit right with me.

Garrett Williams Disrespected in PFF Rankings

We will look at their explanation in just a moment, but my two cents is this -- there is no world in which 21 cornerbacks are better than Williams as we head into the new season.

Williams is young, talented, and has high upside in a defense that has allowed him to flourish and make a relatively smooth transition to the pros. He looks as good or even better than several players ahead of him, who we will highlight shortly.

PFF did mention he will be much higher next season if he continues to improve, but I don't find that to be complimentary of what we've already seen.

Here's what they had to say on Williams' ranking:

"After struggling in his rookie season and missing more than half the year, resulting in a 57.2 PFF coverage grade, WIlliams was excellent in 2024 with an 83.7 PFF coverage grade (four best) and seventh-best PFF advanced coverage grade.

"If he's able to replicate his sophomore campaign in which he allowed 0.68 yards and the second fewest yards in coverage, Williams could jump into the top 10."

"Interesting that Williams could jump into the top ten - I have to ask, why isn't he there already? Is this list not intended for heading into 2025? Meaning we are basing it off the momentum of last season?

I'm unsure entirely what this criteria is, but what I am sure of is there are not 21 corners better than Williams.

Looking at everyone ahead of him is a player off the bat who shouldn't be: Darius Slay.

To be clear, Slay has been one of the league's best corners over the last decade, but he is severely regressing as he enters his mid-30s. Why and how can you justify him ahead of Williams, who is nearly 10 years younger and is clearly ascending while Slay is regressing?

To list a handful of other cover men who I disagree are better than Williams:

Taron Johnson (20)
Riq Woolen (19)
Jamel Dean (17)
Cooper DeJean (11)
Jaire Alexander (9)
Christian Benford (8)

Several of the above mentioned players have similar situations to Williams.

Johnson and Dean have been steady veterans, but neither have shown the upside the Cardinals star has displayed. Benford has shown signs of growth, but he's also a young guy who is capitalizing off a breakout season. DeJean is only entering his second season and wasn't even a full-time contributor until late in the year.

Woolen is a fun debate, but I trust Williams more on a down-to-down basis, even if his ball skills aren't up to par.

The craziest take here is over Alexander, but the veteran is rarely healthy anymore and your best ability is availability. If he can't provide that, he can't be so high on this list. Williams has missed just one game since fully healing from a knee injury he sustained in college.

I can pose all of these opinions with little-to-no weight, but I'll back myself up in stating that Williams is ascending as fast, if not faster, than any player on this list. He's playing at a special level right now and he's only getting better.

The lone question one may have about Williams, his turnover production, could change in 2025. Although he wasn't much for generating turnovers in college with four interceptions over three seasons, he did appear to be on the right track in his final year with two picks in seven games.

Williams also broke up 22 passes in 32 games with Syracuse. Now in 25 professional games, he's broken up 11. So, there are ball skills here -- now it's a matter of turning those into interceptions.

But regardless of interceptions, that's not the end-all, be-all here. After all, Sauce Gardner is their number one corner and he had zero interceptions last season. In fact, he has two interceptions in his three year career. That number shouldn't matter or have any major influence, but it will certainly help.

Regardless, the bottom line can be this... Williams is a rapidly ascending young cover man who is primed to place his name next to the greats. He will enter this season overlooked and will enter next offseason as one of the league's most appreciated defenders, even if he isn't some household name outside of the desert.

Lists like these can be inconsistent, but one thing that will change is Williams' placement outside of the top-20 cornerbacks in football.

Barring any massive fall back or drop off, we will see Williams receive much more love in future cornerback rankings.

Until then, let them sleep and learn the hard way as to why they should never have overlooked him.

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