All in: Seahawks acquire Leonard Williams in trade with Giants

Now we’re talking.

The Seattle Seahawks rode two perfect weekends into sole possession of the NFC West lead. They followed it up with a huge trade the day before the NFL trade deadline.

Pro Bowl defensive lineman Leonard Williams is coming to Seattle.

As always, Quandre Diggs was either not behind, or had an inkling that something was in the works.

Williams has spent his entire career in New York, playing as an absolute menace for the New York Jets and making a Pro Bowl, while spending the next 5 seasons with the Giants.

Williams had 42 pressures and 18 QB hits in 2020, to go alongside 11.5 sacks in what was easily his most productive season. He generated 7 pressures this week alone against the Jets.

As of this writing, the Giants are in the process of taking on a good portion of Williams’ contract in order to facilitate the deal.

Williams and Frank Clark now fill out the defensive line in the wake of Uchenna Nwosu’s season-ending injury. This is a big deal for John Schneider, whose Seahawks have burst forth not as a potential contender but a likely candidate to win the division.

A second next year, and a fifth the year after, are headed to New York in the exchange.

UPDATE:

Per Albert Breer, the Giants are paying all but the prorated amount of the veteran minimum salary. That means of the $10M remaining that Williams is due over the final ten weeks of the 2023 season, New York is paying roughly $9.353M while the Seahawks will be responsible for a little more than $647k.