Quinnen Williams isn't for sale.
That's the message Jets coach Adam Gase offered publicly Wednesday and to Williams in private. The declaration comes on the heels of a report that New York was looking to trade its former first-rounder halfway into his second season.
"He's going to be here," Gase told reporters. "... There's nothing to that. It's false."
Gase noted general manager Joe Douglas, who's dealt a pair of the team's previous top-10 picks in the past year, spoke with the defensive tackle and his agent and assured that the Jets are not shopping him. They would be selling a bit low, if so.
While Williams has already exceeded his rookie production, he hasn't quite been the disruptive force that Gang Green envisioned upon selecting him No. 3 overall in the 2019 draft. Moreover, there's no way he'd net multiple first-rounders like former teammate Jamal Adams. NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported over the weekend that more than a few teams have indeed inquired about Williams as the Nov. 3 trade deadline approaches, and the Jets would need multiple second-rounders to part with the 22-year-old.
Williams asserted he's not paying the contradictory voices any mind.
"Honestly, I just don't read it, man," he told SiriusXM College Sports Radio on Tuesday. "Just don't look at it, just don't read it. You just don't really listen to it, just don't really pay it any attention, man. Cause like I said, I gotta go out there every single day. I can't control being traded. I can't control being not traded. So it's like, I can't control being cut, released or anything like that. I can control what I can control, and that's going out there every Sunday, every day, during practice, putting my best foot forward, working hard and just trying to be the best player I know I can be and the best player that I am."
That would be good for both sides. Williams playing to his potential would drive up his value to the Jets and in the trade market. Time will tell what is true.
