Report: Leonard Williams Traded to Giants from Jets for Multiple Draft Picks

The New York Jets reportedly traded defensive end Leonard Williams to the New York Giants on Monday, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN.

Per Schefter, the Giants gave up a third-round draft pick in 2020 and a fifth-round selection in 2021 and will pay $2 million of Williams' remaining $6 million salary. Schefter added that the fifth-round pick can become a fourth-round selection if Williams signs an extension before the start of the 2020 league year.

Field Yates of ESPN noted that it is the first time the Jets and Giants have ever made a trade with each other.

Williams is in the final year of his rookie deal after the Jets picked up his $14.2 million option for 2019.

Although Williams is set to become a free agent after this season, Schefter reported on Oct. 13 that "multiple teams" had expressed interest in a possible trade. Schefter posited that the Jets were in a position to receive at least a mid-round pick back.

Williams has 20 combined tackles through seven games in 2019.

It's an underwhelming return for a lineman who has generally been consistent since the Jets selected him sixth overall in the 2015 draft. He entered this year having registered 17 sacks and 32 tackles for loss.

"He really has played well," Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams told reporters in October about Williams. "He's graded out high each and every week, and doing things that maybe don't show up [in stats], but doing things schematically, and team-wise what you have to do."

Williams appeared to be on the verge of a breakout when he had seven sacks and earned a Pro Bowl nod in 2016. Instead, he has failed to reach the elite class of interior defenders.

The 25-year-old argued in September 2018 that the numbers didn't accurately reflect his impact on a game.

"It's called hidden production because it's not showing up on the stat sheet," he told reporters. "If I'm running a game with the outside backer and I pick the guy really good for him and he comes free and makes a sack, that's a hidden production example."

The Jets' lack of a dominant edge-rusher didn't help Williams, either. Opposing teams didn't have to divert much attention away from the inside of the line.

Williams could prove to be a shrewd midseason acquisition for the Giants. He'll be playing alongside rookie first-round pick Dexter Lawrence, who has two sacks through eight games this season.

If anything, the Jets picked the wrong time to trade him, since his value is as low as it's ever been. Flipping him for draft picks is better than losing him as a free agent, but this swap looks one-sided for the time being.