Bears News: Williamson on his versatility in secondary: "I can make an impact" |
Chicago had a total of 10 picks in the 2023 NFL Draft. With their final pick at No. 258, the Bears selected cornerback Kendall Williamson out of Stanford University. He was the third cornerback they took in the draft. Williamson is incredibly excited to become part of this defense because of their strong history.
“I feel like one thing that excites me the most about the opportunity is just the history of the Chicago Bears defense,” Williamson said. “Just being a safety and playing in such a, like a defense that has such a great history of defensive players is just an amazing opportunity. I feel like for me, and I’m so thankful and so grateful for the opportunity.” During his five-year career with the Cardinals, he totaled 213 tackles, 11 for loss, and had 1.5 sacks. In addition, he’s defended 13 passes, six of those came in 2021. He’s also recorded two forced fumbles - one in 2021 and the other in 2022. For the first two years, he was at Stanford and played at the cornerback position before transitioning to safety. Some players would have difficulty with a position change, but Williamson is not one of those kinds of players. “It was honestly kind of fluid. I feel like,” Williamson said. “So, like, I played corner my junior year and then switched to safety my senior year in high school but, like, got recruited as a corner. But then (I) just came in, as I’ve always been an intellectual type of guy, players saw (I) picked up the playbook fast and my coach … felt like I could be used better, like at safety, especially early on. Because I had a bit of safety background, I feel like it was a pretty fluid transition.” As a seventh-round player, he is also aware of the fact there are aspects of his game in need of improvement. Primarily, those things center around coming downhill as a safety and getting to the ball carrier. In addition, he would like to be able to get the ball more. “I feel like there’s definitely a couple of things,” Williamson said. “I’d say one is kind of just eyes and angles. Coming downhill at safety or being around the ball, getting to the ball carrier. Those are two things that I definitely feel I can improve on. Then also, playmaking ability, getting around the ball - more picks, more PPUs, forced fumbles, fumble recoveries, and stuff like that.” No roster spot is guaranteed, particularly for someone who was on the verge of not getting drafted. Williamson is aware of this and is determined to make an immediate impact on the team and show general manager Ryan Poles and the rest of the coaching staff why he deserves to be a Chicago Bear. “I’m going to show that I can come in and be a player who can make an influence immediately in whatever way that is possible,” Williamson said. “I can make an impact and believe that, and that’s my main goal coming in, is to show that I can do that.”
