Patriots Joejuan Williams has the perfect mentor in Devin McCourty

It’s not easy to learn a new position when you enter the NFL. It takes some time, patience and good teachers to help a player adjust. For Joejuan Williams, he doesn’t have to look far when it comes to getting advice.

The 2019 second-round pick came to the Patriots as a cornerback from Vanderbilt. This year, he’s started to play safety. Williams has been a part of the Patriots defensive plan when it comes to defending tight ends. At 6-foot-3, he has great size, but [...]

It’s not easy to learn a new position when you enter the NFL. It takes some time, patience and good teachers to help a player adjust. For Joejuan Williams, he doesn’t have to look far when it comes to getting advice.

The 2019 second-round pick came to the Patriots as a cornerback from Vanderbilt. This year, he’s started to play safety. Williams has been a part of the Patriots defensive plan when it comes to defending tight ends. At 6-foot-3, he has great size, but still has to learn a new position playing against top competition.

That’s one reason why he’s leaned on Devin McCourty so heavily. McCourty also came to the Patriots as a cornerback and successfully transitioned to safety where he’s earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors. Williams said he looks up to the Patriots captain on and off the field.

"Devin, on and off the football field, that’s the guy I want to be like in the future," Williams said. "He’s the quarterback of our defense. Having him back there, it really – playing down, whether I’m at corner, whether I’m guarding tight ends – knowing he’s back there, it helps out a lot because I know he will be on his job and it helps me play my role a lot better. I love having Devin back there. Hopefully, I’m close to being like him one day. I love having Devin back there."

Williams has played limited snaps this season. He saw the most playing time with 27 defensive snaps in Week 1 while covering Miami tight end Mike Gesicki. He played nine snaps last weekend against Las Vegas. Williams was used mainly on third downs to cover Darren Waller.

This season, Williams hasn’t been the only defensive back to play both corner and safety. Jonathan Jones and Jason McCourty have switched between positions as well.

"I feel like playing here, playing defense as a DB, you’ve got to know every spot," Williams said. "It’s not just the safeties or anything like that. You see Steph (Gilmore) going back there at safety sometimes. You’ll see J-Mac back there. You’ll see anybody. We work in practice. We work everywhere. At the end of the day, that’s what you’ve got to do in this defense. You’ve got to be versatile. That’s how I feel like it benefits the team. You can plug and play anybody anywhere."

mdaniels@providencejournal.com

On Twitter: @MarkDanielsPJ