Quinnen Williams was a household name among people who pay attention to the NFL draft, and it was no surprise when he was the third overall pick. But it was a total shock when the 98th overall pick was a player who’s only a household name in the Williams household.
The Jaguars took Murray State linebacker Quincy Williams — Quinnen’s brother — near the end of the third round, and that was such a surprise pick that NFL Network was caught totally off guard, with Rich Eisen saying on the air that “You’ve stumped the truck. We don’t have a video.”
“I did 400 guys — 400 players I worked on. Quincy was not one of the guys I did,” Daniel Jeremiah said on the air.
Arif Hasan of TheAthletic.com compiled a list of 730 players on various big boards, and Quincy Williams was not in the Top 730.
Quincy Williams said after the third round that the Jaguars called him right after his brother had given him a pep talk to tell him not to worry about not getting drafted.
“I talked to my brother a few times,” Williams said. “He told me to stay prayed up, to keep being patient, to keep waiting, and then as soon as I got off the phone with him, I got the call [from the Jaguars]. It was kind of crazy actually.”
Williams noted that he wasn’t invited to the Combine and that Murray State didn’t even have a Pro Day, so he doubted he was going to get drafted.
“For me coming from a small school and didn’t get a combine invite, yeah, I kind of did,” Williams said. “Then I had to go to Pro Day somewhere else, so most people thought I was a safety or a smaller linebacker, so yeah it was a thought in my mind. But then I know my abilities, and I believe in myself.”
Quincy may have been a reach on the draft boards, but the Jaguars believe they got a player.