Tweet
has only ever done his job. When Larry Foote got hurt in 2013, Williams stepped in as a sixth-round rookie and held down his Kolby Allard Jersey starting inside linebacker job for the rest of the season. The rewarded him by spending their first-round pick in the following draft on another inside linebacker, .So Williams said nothing and moved into a backup role behind Shazier and star . Each year he improved a little bit. He accumulated a few more snaps, earned more practice reps, and by the time 2016 rolled around he was ready to be a starting linebacker.But Timmons was, if not a team legend, then certainly too respected a member of the organization to be benched. He struggled so mightily last season that he could only get a two-year contract in free agency despite Lance Lynn Jersey being an All-Pro in 2014. According to , Williams had a rating of 69.0 out of 100 compared to Timmons' 43.5 ... but Timmons still played 1,145 snaps last season to Williams' 268.(The Steelers are back at training camp! Don't MISS anything as they prepare to try and return to the playoffs -- ) There are no such politics keeping Williams off the field this season. Not only is he firmly slotted into the starting inside linebacker role, but Pittsburgh didn't add a single veteran of note at inside linebacker during the offseason or draft one in April. They sniffed around in free agency, but he's a superstar and it would have been irresponsible not to. Had the Steelers ever intended for someone besides Williams to replace Timmons, they would have used a draft pick on the position between 2015 and now. Adrian Sampson Jersey They didn't. "I'm humbled really, because we had opportunities to get some linebackers in free agency," Williams said, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the We had an opportunity to draft a first-round linebacker, and we didn't. It shows the organization has a lot of confidence in me, and that's the first time I ever felt that way."Williams isn't a flashy player. Shazier is Joey Gallo Jersey the playmaker of the two, but as the left inside linebacker he has more freedom to make plays. The weak-side linebacker has more responsibility in coverage and is generally the better athlete, whereas the strong-side linebacker in a 3-4 scheme is the traditional middle linebacker who stops the run. That is where Williams excels. He is tough as nails and makes the simple, fundamental plays. His coaches have towards him."Vince has been around here for a long time," defensive coordinator Keith Butler told the . "We expect him to play well for us."If you project out Williams' statistics over the larger sample he's likely to see as a starter, you Mike Minor Jersey can see why. He had 32 total tackles last season in only 268 snaps. If we a sume his production would remain stable during the same amount of snaps Timmons played, those numbers translate to 136.7 total tackles. That total would have placed him seventh in the entire , directly ahead of and .Tackles aren't everything, but they're a nice indicator of how active a player is against the run. As that will be Williams' primary job, numbers like that are pretty tantalizing. Backups who can't perform in small samples usually don't step up in bigger ones. Williams always performed as a backup, and now he's ready to finally become a starter.