Giovanni Williams, the younger brother of Jets All-Pro defenders Quinnen Williamsand Quincy Williams, was one of the Jets' 12 tryout players at rookie minicamp over the weekend.
When he was 10 years old, Giovanni Williams was in love with baseball. That was until he went to a football game to watch his older brothers, Quincy and Quinnen play in a game.
"I saw how much fun they were having on the field," he told the NFL Draft Diamonds website before April's NFL Draft. "That's when I decided to give it a try and instantly began to fall in love with the sport."
The younger Williams (6-2, 222), who finished his collegiate career as a linebacker at HBCU Miles College, went undrafted, but there he was over the weekend at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center.
"It feels good," Giovanni Williams told reporters after Saturday's session. "It feels, I'd say, honestly, bittersweet just because living behind them, making my own name, I had to still live behind them. But it's sweet because me and my brother [Quincy] play the same position. So it's like, I can call on him for help and we've got the same competition level. So it's going to be like competition, just like always.
"Just like we're back home, just a big competition." With HC Aaron Glenn taking in the scene that included all seven drafted players plus 15 undrafted free agents and the contingent of tryouts, Giovanni Williams has a chance, if signed, to join his brothers as the first trio of brothers in the NFL in more than 100 years.
According to The Associated Press via the Pro Football Hall of Fame, three brothers have not played on the same team since Bill, Cobb and Joe Rooney played in Minnesota for the 1927 Duluth Eskimos after also playing for the team in 1924 when it was called the Duluth Kelleys. More recently, there have many pairs of brothers playing in the league at the same time.
"Honestly, it will mean a lot to me just to know that I came to the minicamp and I was coachable, I had urgency," Williams said. "And just to be on the team with my brothers, it [would] feel good. It [would] be historical."
Quinnen, 27, has been a mainstay in the middle of the Jets' defensive front since he was drafted out of Alabama in the first round (No. 3 overall) in 2019. He's a three-time Pro Bowl selection and was named a first-team All-Pro by the AP in 2022.
Quincy, at 28 and the oldest of the three, was plucked by the Jets off the waiver wire after a couple of seasons with Jacksonville and has transformed himself into one of the most ferocious linebackers in the NFL. He earned first-team All-Pro honors in 2023 and has surpassed 100 tackles in each of his four seasons with the Green & White.
"I don't know if there's ever -- and you guys can correct me if I'm wrong -- been three brothers actually suit up for the same team in some capacity," Glenn said on Saturday. "And I just think that it's outstanding that he has a Jets jersey on, and both of his brothers are actually here with us. So, it's a beautiful story, he's working his butt off.
"It really doesn't matter where you are from or even what you did. Once you get in the building, you have a shot."
Giovanni played two seasons, 2021 and '22, for Texas A&M Kingsville (he did not play as a freshman during Covid in 2020) before transferring to Miles College in Fairfield, AL. In 2023, a broken hand limited him to only 2 games, but last season he appeared in 11 games and logged 29 tackles.
He said that he sees himself as a rough blend of Quincy's and Quinnen's games despite weighing 350 pounds in high school as a middle linebacker before dropping to 185 pounds.
"I'm in the middle -- I've got Quincy's speed, but I've got Quinnen's build," he said. "So it's like I'm the middle of both of them. So everybody compares me as the hybrid of both."
When his agent called to say the Jets wanted to give him a look, Giovanni said he was ecstatic. He, however, wants to write his own story and not be viewed simply as a legacy.
"I was like, 'Wow, my brothers,' " he said. "Then I was like, 'Yo, it's go time, you got to lock in now.' It's like, historical moment, three brothers never been on the same team, so I had to have to focus more, lock in more."
He added: "All I can do is come out here and just do me, handle my business, put my best foot forward. Whatever happens, happens."
