The Jets announced their 2019 coaching staff on Friday and it includes Blake Williams as a defensive assistant.
Blake Williams is the son of defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and has worked with his father in past stops. Rich Cimini of ESPN reports that Jets head coach Adam Gase initially “balked” at the suggestion that the younger Williams would be on the staff as the team’s linebackers coach and the older Williams “wasn’t happy” about that reaction.
The defensive assistant position may have marked a compromise between the men when it came to putting together a staff that has other familial connections.
Gase’s father-in-law Joe Vitt is on hand as a senior defensive assistant and outside linebackers coach and that could be an interesting fit with Williams. Vitt was once on the Saints staff with Williams and he testified that Williams was not truthful in his own testimony during the league’s bounty investigation.
That resulted in Williams being suspended indefinitely and Vitt being suspended for six games, which may make for some interesting interactions as they work together for the first time since the 2011 season.