K Major

By John Sigler | Saints Wire

New Orleans Saints free safety Marcus Williams has a bad rap among some fans. It’s because there’s this perception that he plays small in big moments — like his whiffed tackles on deep passes in last season’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers. There have been a handful of mistakes in critical moments from the 23-year-old starter, and a vocal contingent in Saints social media circles and fan forums are determined to zero in on those few bad plays against the 2,800-plus other snaps Williams has seen since the Saints drafted him.

To hear them tell it, Williams is an unreliable player who should be traded at the first opportunity. However, the analysts at Pro Football Focus are here to sweep that misconception away. Their snap-by-snap grading proved Williams isn’t just a good player; he’s one of the NFL’s best, ranking at No. 38 on their list of the top 101 players of 2019:

This season saw Marcus Williams return to the level of play that we saw from him as a rookie, and he ended the season with an overall PFF grade of 88.9. ...

https://saintswire.usatoday.com/2020...op-101-grades/