Packers safety Evan Williams adds to defensive arsenal in win over Lions

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 Lions was at Ford Field, and that’s important for a defense that has struggled generally when away from the frozen tundra. The Packers have allowed 13.5 points per game at home as opposed to 24.2 points per game on the road, and their defensive EPA per play on the road of +0.0442 is much worse than their -0.0847 at home.

Williams seems to have the right attitude about such things.

“Maybe just approaching it like any other game, really,” he said last month when asked how his defense could erase that away disparity. “I mean, it seems like when we’re at home, it definitely is easier to get into the flow of things as far as you’re bringing your energy, like, off the rip, you know? We just all understand the mindset that we have as a defense.

“And, you know, maybe sometimes that gets lost on the road a little bit. You kind of get a day in a hotel, your downtime before the game. So I feel like as long as we just treat it like any other home game, you know, as far as, getting your body ready for the game, getting your intensity ready for the game and just being process-oriented, trying to focus on those days before the game to do whatever you can for your body, just to put yourself in the best spot come game time. That’s all we can do as a team.”

The Lions win was a great start in the later-season process, and as long as Williams keeps bombing running backs and covering deep for turnovers in mind, who knows how far this defense can go?