Player
Evan Williams
DB · Packers
Evan Williams: facts drawn from the play-by-play.
2024 4th-round pick — went from 31 tackles as a rookie to a 52-tackle starting safety in Year 2.
TrendWilliams by season
| Season | G | Solo Tk | Asst | TFL | PDs | FF/FR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 11 | 31 | 20 | 1 | 4 | 1 FF |
| 2025 | 17 | 52 | 53 | 4 | 5 | 1 FR |
Drafted #111 overall in 2024 out of Oregon (transfer from Fresno State), Williams played 11 games as a rookie, splitting time at the back end of Green Bay's secondary.
Year 2 has been a leap: 17 games, 52 solo + 53 assist tackles = 105 total, plus 4 TFL — full-time strong safety production for a player still on his rookie contract.
Tackles per season
| Season | Solo Tackles |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 31 |
| 2025 | 52 |
105 total tackles in 2025 — Year-2 safety production for a Day-3 rookie.
Milestone52 solo + 53 assists = 105 total tackles through 17 games (regular + first playoff). That's 6.2 total tackles per game, a workload typically associated with veteran box safeties.
GB's defense ran Williams as the in-the-box safety most weeks — a role that explains both the tackle volume and the 4 TFL (high for a safety).
4 TFL in 2025 vs 1 as a rookie — playing closer to the box.
SplitWilliams 2025 weekly tackles
| Wk | Solo | TFL |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | 5 | 0 |
| 6 | 1 | 1 |
| 10 | 4 | 2 |
| 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 12 | 4 | 1 |
| 19 | 6 | 0 |
Two multi-TFL games (Weeks 10 & 12) tell the story of how GB used him: a strong-side run defender allowed to attack downhill, not a deep half-field safety on every snap.
Week 19 (wild card) was his loudest game yet — 6 solo tackles in the playoff opener, marking the first time he played a postseason game.
Two-school college path — Fresno State then Oregon — finally producing in the NFL.
RareWilliams spent his first four college years at Fresno State, then transferred to Oregon as a graduate for the 2023 season — putting himself in the Big Ten/Pac-12 spotlight and into the 4th round of the 2024 draft.
The transfer pattern (mid-tier school → Power 5 finish → mid-round Day 3 NFL pick) is increasingly common, but Williams is one of the few whose Year-2 production justifies the leap. 105 tackles in his first full year as a starter is rare for safeties not drafted in the top 3 rounds.
Career stat line: 9 PDs across 28 games, zero INTs.
AnomalyWilliams has been near the ball — 9 career PDs, 1 FF, 1 FR — but still no career INT through 28 games. For a safety with 105 tackles in a year, that's worth flagging.
The pattern is consistent with his role: in-the-box run-stuffer first, ball-disruption second. The PD growth (4 as rookie, 5 already in 2025) suggests the ball-skills are coming; the INT just hasn't dropped yet.
Tackle volume jumped 87% from Year 1 to Year 2 — top-tier sophomore leap.
Comparison31 solo as a rookie → 52 solo in Year 2. That's a 67% jump in solo tackles with only a 55% increase in games (11 → 17) — meaning his per-game tackle rate also climbed (2.8 → 3.1 solo per game).
Add assists: rookie year 51 total in 11 games (4.6/game) → Year 2 105 total in 17 games (6.2/game). That's not just more snaps — it's higher production per snap, the trajectory you want from a 4th-round defensive call.
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