Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams is hungry. But the appealing items on his menu are pure meat and potatoes.
"I'm hungry to win a football game," he said on Tuesday when players reported to the Atlantic Health Training Center to start training camp. "I'm hungry to win more than seven games. I came from Bama, and the winning aspect at Bama, it was every single game we expected to win.
"And that's the hunger still in me to this day. I'm one of those guys. I'm built primarily about the process, not about the playoffs, not about the Super Bowl, but every single week. Can I win every single day? Can I win that day? And those little, small wins are added to the big wins, like potentially going to the playoffs or potentially going to the Super Bowl. But I kind of got to focus on winning today, winning tomorrow, getting better every single day, and hopefully that ultimate goal is achieved."
As the second-longest tenured member of the Green & White, about to enter his seventh season in the NFL, Williams, 27, was recently tabbed as No. 87 among the NFL's top 100 players ahead of the 2025 season, as voted by his fellow professionals. During his time with the team, the Jets have won 7 games three times (as a rookie in 2019, and then in '23 and '24) as he toiled in the trenches.
Now he and the rest of the Jets have been bathing in confidence, not overconfidence, as a new regime led by HC Aaron Glenn begins a new chapter in the history of the franchise. Williams was unequivocal in expressing his confidence in Glenn.
"The confidence there, just how you carry yourself, the things he speaks on, the things he says," Williams said. "I've been coached by one of the greatest coaches [Nick Saban at Alabama] of all time. And I kind of know how it looks and know how it feels when it comes down to being around people who can take me and a team to the highest level. And he's [Glenn] got every aspect in him. ... I know he's going to be one of the greatest coaches in this league. Aaron Glenn, just the way he goes about things."
Williams (6-3, 303) was selected No. 3 overall by the Jets in the 2019 NFL Draft. He recorded 6 sacks and 18 QB hits during the 2024 season and has earned Pro Bowl honors the past three seasons, totaling 154 tackles, 23.5 sacks and 66 hits. Over his NFL career, he has played in 90 of a possible 102 games. The young veteran has seen a lot and been through a lot, and on Tuesday his eyes lit up when he was asked about the team's new state-of-the-art locker room -- the players' home away from home.
"It's unbelievable," he said. "And to pay the players [contract extensions for CB Sauce Gardnerand WR Garrett Wilson and to get the locker room, you see those efforts. And this organization and [Chairman] Woody [Johnson] as an owner who wants to see this team be successful, wants to see this team go in the right direction when it comes down to winning football games. It comes down to a healthy environment, doing the necessary things to put the players in the position to win football games. And you just take your hat off to that and just know that you got an owner that stands behind you and wants to see you be great on the field and off the field.
"It's like when you renovate your house and you walk in for the first time. It's unbelievable."
Garrett Wilson: 'I'm Excited'
It was only a coincidence that Tuesday was Garrett Wilson's 25th birthday. And you can't blame the Jets' wide receiver for celebrating the start of a new season secure with a recently signed contract extension that solidifies his place with the Green & White through 2030 (at least).
"I've always kept my faith, and that this thing's going to turn around, and that I'm going to be a big part of why it does," he said. "There's times where you have some days that are harder than others, right? I'm not superhuman. I've had days up and down and felt like things weren't going our way, my way, maybe. But the next day I always kind of came back down to earth and coming to work here with these people, and as I said, people that believe in me. I don't take that lightly."
With his contract extension signed and in the books, Wilson -- one of Jets' three-round picks in 2022, along with Sauce Gardner and Jermaine Johnson, was chatty and oozed confidence on Tuesday.
"I love football," Wilson said. "I don't really need an excuse to go out and go play. ... For me, it's always been just more simple to go play football. And it's always what I've loved doing."
Wilson acknowledged that the signing in free agency of QB Justin Fields, a teammate in college at Ohio State, has helped him reach a level of comfort.
"That's another side of it, just having a guy like that, that is as good of a person as he is," Wilson said. "Competitive-wise, he's one of the most competitive people I've met. And then just the way he attacks workouts and practices, you don't see that often from a quarterback. I remember from college... he's the same dude. I'm excited, just the conversations that we've had and getting to throw it around throughout OTAs. We have fun out there. So, I'm excited."
