By John Sigler | Saintswire
Free safety Marcus Williams has caught heat from New Orleans Saints fans for his missed tackles over the years, but Pro Football Focus is encouraged by his 2020 performance. As first pointed out by Andrew Bell over at Canal Street Chronicles, PFF has negged Williams with just two misses this season — on 45 attempts, a rate of one miss per every 22.5 tries.
It’s good enough for fourth-best in the league among 66 qualifying safeties (those who have played 50% or more of the position’s snaps leader, Tre Boston, at 757 snaps played; for context, Williams has played 643 snaps, or 84.9%). That group includes his teammate Malcolm Jenkins, who has averaged a missed tackle every 11.0 attempts, and former Saints starters Kenny Vaccaro (5.8) and Vonn Bell (22.8).
And it’s a marked improvement over his past results. In 2019, Williams averaged a whiff every 6.2 attempts, worse than his 2018 rate (7.9) and a far cry from his 2017 rookie performance (15.6). That’s because he has put in the work; Nick Underhill of NewOrleans.Football spoke with his position coaches and personal trainers to get into the lengths Williams went to improve that aspect of his game. ...
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