Acme Packing Company
Throughout the 2025 NFL season, SB Nation’s Doug Farrar will write about the game’s Secret Superstars — those players whose performances might slip under the radar for whatever reasons. In this installment, we focus on Green Bay Packers safety Evan Williams, who began his NFL career as part of the franchise’s massive safety overhaul, and has become an ascending player in all sorts of concepts.
In the 2024 preseason, the Green Bay Packers did everything they possibly could to erase the odor of a defense run by Joe Barry that had ranked 27th in DVOA on that side of the ball the season before. New defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley came on board from Boston College, and boy, did general manager Brian Gutekunst and his staff attack the safety positions. Former New York Giant Xavier McKinney was signed to a four-year, $67 million contract with $23 million guaranteed, and in the 2024 draft, the Packers selected three potential starting safeties — Georgia’s Javon Bullard in the second round, Oregon’s Evan Williams in the fourth, and Oregon State’s Kitan Oladapo in the fifth.
McKinney has been a force multiplier as expected, and the guy from that draft class who is really starting to show out is Evan Williams. During his time in 2023 with the Ducks, and with Fresno State from 2019-2022, Williams proved to be the very model of the multi-position defender, which Hafley loves, and it’s been working very well as Williams’ NFL career progresses. Williams got decent play in his rookie season for a Packers defense that rose to seventh in Defensive DVOA, allowing 15 catches on 26 targets for 168 yards, 76 yards after the catch, three touchdowns, one interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 99.5.
Williams has been better in coverage this season for a Green Bay defense that has been up and down this season. The ways in which Hafley is deploying Williams is highly interesting these days — especially in the team’s 31-24 Thanksgiving Day win over the Detroit Lions. In the win that took the Pack to 8-3-1 on the season, Hafley was all about making Williams the bomber from all over the field in the run game. Jahmyr Gibbs is as dangerous and explosive as any back in the NFL, but when Williams was coming down at high speed and with bad intentions, Gibbs could do absolutely nothing.
It’s not just how quickly the 6’1”, 205-pound Williams comes down to make those plays; it’s about how well he reads and times gaps to blow up those plays. Gibbs hasn’t been the only victim this season.
Williams has also improved in coverage, allowing 24 catches on 29 targets this season for 248 yards, 61 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, three interceptions, one pass breakup, and an opponent passer rating of 85.7. Williams has the range and athleticism to work well in Hafley’s frequent coverage switches, and the acumen is starting to match the raw tools.
The win over the...
