Help is on the way for the New York Jets.
The team announced on Monday that defensive lineman Quinnen Williams was removed from the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
He's back.
Quinnen Williams has been activated from the PUP list. pic.twitter.com/5hDBFEGksz
— New York Jets (@nyjets) August 16, 2021
Video from SNY later captured Williams partaking in pre-practice stretching as this week’s training camp activities got underway.
Quinnen Williams is out stretching with the Jets this morning pic.twitter.com/EjYZOZcbSo
— Jets Videos (@snyjets) August 16, 2021
Williams, set to enter his third season after the Jets named him the third overall choice of the 2019 draft, had been recovering from surgery after sustaining a foot injury during an on-field workout at the Jets’ practice facility in May.
Head coach Robert Saleh had theorized that Williams would be ready to rejoin the team in time for a set of joint practices with the Green Bay Packers, and all indications appear to point in that direction.
Before the Jets broke camp for their exhibition opener against the New York Giants on Saturday, Saleh said that Williams would partake in a “simulated practice”.
“It’s just trying to simulate 10-15 plays, get-offs, get back to the line of scrimmage, the best we can to try and push on somebody,” Saleh said of the plan for Williams, per notes from the Jets. “(We’re) just trying to create as close to a practice environment that you would get to. It won’t come close because of the amount of push-pull and all that stuff that happens, but doing our best to try to simulate that for him.”
Saleh said that while Williams would be labeled a full participant, the lineman “won’t get the reps that everybody else has got” as the Jets try to ease him back into their defensive rotation.
Williams is coming off a breakout sophomore season, one that saw him lead the Jets with seven sacks. He is expected to take on an integral in the Jets’ revamped pass rush, one that welcomes Carl Lawson and Sheldon Rankins to the fold with Williams and his fellow 2020 breakouts Foley Fatukasi and John Franklin-Myers.
The Jets return to preseason action on Saturday afternoon against the Packers at Lambeau Field (4:25 p.m. ET, WLNY/NFL Network)
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
