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July 30, 2015Tramon Williams has been to the top of the NFL mountain. He was a Green Bay Packer for his first eight years in the league, which included a Super Bowl win and a Pro Bowl selection in 2010. His 28 career interceptions are the seventh most among active players, and his 427 interception return yards are 10th most. The Packers went 86-41-1 during his time in Wisconsin.
Now the 32-year-old cornerback is set to begin his new life with the Cleveland Browns, a franchise that posted a 44-84 record during that same stretch. Things are bound to be a little different.
“It is a new challenge,” Williams said at training camp on Wednesday. “The challenge is getting us there. When I signed here, I knew the potential that this team had, and it is intriguing for me because the players that I see, we definitely are capable of making it to that point. We have just got to believe it. We just have to believe it. Hopefully, I can come here and bring some experience and add to that.”
At 32, conventional wisdom says that Williams is a geriatric by defensive backfield standards. That said, he only missed one game during his last five years as a Packer — he started 79 of 80 possible games, and he earned his chance. The Louisiana Tech grad went undrafted in 2008. The Houston Texans signed him, only to release him during the final preseason cut. The Packers signed him that November, and by 2009 he had taken over for the injured Al Harris opposite Charles Woodson. The challenge now is to prove that he still has the goods in his NFL midlife.
“That is all I heard – the 30-mark,” said Williams. “No one ever said you couldn’t play anymore. I am happy to be here. I am happy the Cleveland Browns were one of the teams that wanted me. I thought this was an excellent spot for me. The over-30 thing is just what people say when you get there. It is just what people say when you get there. I have still been productive in this league for a long time, and I still have a lot of football to play. Hopefully I can come here and show those guys what I can do.”
Williams was the nominal number one corner for his last few seasons in Green Bay after Harris and Woodson both departed via free agency. Still, he was often overshadowed by his fellow Packer DBs — Harris and Woodson, as well as Sam Shields. That may well be the case in Cleveland as he joins a secondary featuring Pro Bowlers Joe Haden, Donte Whitner, and Tashaun Gipson. When asked if the defensive backs were an area of depth, Williams responded in the affirmative.
“It is. I like the guys in the room. Everyone bonds to each other. Everyone fits in that room. We are going to need everyone. Obviously, they say you can have as many good corners on a team as you want and you are going to need them all. We are going to need every one of those guys.”
“Joe [Haden] is a guy who just plays, balls out”
“Joe [Haden] is a guy who just plays, balls out”
One of those guys is second-year corner Justin Gilbert, who had a mostly forgettable rookie campaign. The No. 8 overall pick in the 2014 draft played in 14 games, totaling 25 tackles and one interception, which he returned for a touchdown. Gilbert did not live up to his top-10 expectations, nor did he curry favor with the Browns coaching staff; the undrafted K’Waun Williams was played ahead of Gilbert in some situations. Still, Tramon Williams recognizes Gilbert’s physical skills. He pointed out that cornerback is a tough position to get acclimated to, and expects the 23-year-old can turn it around.
“I see a guy [in Gilbert] who is focused and ready to come in and get to work. At the end of the day, he was a rookie last year and it is one of the toughest positions to play. Justin has all the tools. He has the athletic ability. He has everything. He just has to come out and focus, and he is going to do that.”
One player who has long impressed Williams, on the other hand, is Joe Haden, with whom Williams can sympathize as far as being a team’s top corner goes.
“Joe is a guy who just plays, balls out,” Williams said. “He is a guy who you can put one a number one guy and he can play that guy the whole game, and in the league that is tough. I have done that before. I did that for four or five years. To do that is really impressive. To have a guy like that, it enables your defense to go – I have done it before, I know coaches are always stressing when you have guys like that on your team, it makes them easier for them as coaches.”
Nobody is being handed a starting spot — “There is no better motivator than competition,” head coach Mike Pettine said Wednesday. That’s nothing new to Williams, who went from undrafted free agent to Super Bowl winner and Pro Bowler in just two seasons. He’s ready for a training camp battle. If history is any indication, he’s a good bet to come out on top.
“There is always competition. Even when I came into Green Bay, I came in and I had to earn my spot. Once I got to that spot, I still had to fight off guys every year. Even though everyone else thought it was my spot, I didn’t see it that way.
“I felt that I always had to fight for that spot, and that is the same way I treated it every year.”
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