Report: Broncos re-sign defensive lineman DeShawn Williams

According to 9News’ Mike Klis the Denver Broncos have re-signed defensive lineman DeShawn Williams

Williams has become a valuable and versatile defensive lineman for the Broncos in recent years. He has played all over the defensive line and started a total of 19 games in two seasons for the Broncos. He was a restricted free agent heading into free agency and the Broncos did not give him a tender, but just as they did with Andrew Beck and Calvin Anderson, the team was able to come to terms on an agreement. The Broncos signed Beck and Anderson to contracts with a lower cap number than the lowest RFA tender and it appears Williams contract will probably do the same. We’ll have more on the terms of the contract when they’re reported.

An undrafted free agent out of Clemson in 2015, Williams has fought for every snap he’s earned in his NFL career. He first signed with the Cincinnati Bengals and spent his rookie season on their practice squad. In 2018 he was signed to a futures contract with the Broncos, but didn’t make the final roster out of camp. After a stint on the Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts’ practice squads he re-joined the Broncos in 2019. He was released during August later that year and found his way to the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL.

Williams scrapped his way onto the Broncos’ active roster in 2020. In the past two seasons, Williams has appeared in 29 games for the Broncos and also had 19 starts in those 29 games. During those 29 games, Williams totaled 76 tackles, 3 sacks, 5 tackles for a loss, 5 pass deflections, and 11 quarterback hits. This past season for the Broncos, Williams totaled 39 tackles, 1 sack, 1 tackle for a loss, and 5 quarterback hits.

On this side of any potential draft acquisition it looks like Williams has a good chance to once again play between 40-46% of the Broncos’ defensive snaps. He’s capable of logging snaps from the five technique down to the 0, so expect to see him play a little nose tackle, interior rusher, a base end.

As of this writing there D.J. Jones contract structure has not been publicly released so the Broncos cap space is an estimate. According to Over the Cap projections, the Broncos have less than $9,154,579 in cap space. With Williams and Jones now under contract they are probably done adding veteran pieces to the defensive line.