Leonard Williams has played 124 games across his eight NFL seasons.
The 125th game he plays — Sunday against the Vikings in the NFC wild-card game at Minneapolis — he’ll cherish more than all the others because it’ll be his first playoff game.
It’s been too long for Williams without having had a mere taste of the postseason — so long that he wondered if it might ever happen for him at all.
No one has been happier to be at work this week than Williams.
“Just even being here working when I’m usually planning my flight to go home for the offseason is a good feeling,” he said. “I’ve been embracing work even on a different level than I normally do. Right now, I’m just embracing every day that we’re here. It has been a long time coming.”
In his rookie season with the Jets in 2015, Williams was teased into believing that being in contention for a playoff berth was the norm. The Jets were 10-5 that year, playing a win-and-they’re-in final regular-season game against the Bills, which they lost.
Still, Williams figured the following season with the same coaching staff and same players “we’ll just do it next year.”
But the Jets went 5-11 the next year, then 5-11 again in 2017 and then 4-12 in 2018, Williams’ fourth season.
Leonard Williams is cherishing his opportunity to play in the playoffs. AP
“I was thinking we’d found success in my first year, so why wouldn’t we find it again the next year?” Williams said. “And it took this long to have another opportunity to get into the playoffs.”
When Williams was traded to the Giants in the middle of the 2019 season, he figured that would be his time. But the Giants went 4-12 in 2019, then 6-10 in 2020 and were 4-13 last season.
“In the beginning it didn’t get me down, but over time it was like, ‘Wow, another year not going to the playoffs,’ ” Williams said.
“Eight years,” said Giants ninth-year defensive tackle Justin Ellis, who’s been to the playoffs three times, as he pondered Williams’ long wait. “That’s tough … but he’s here now.”
Williams is not only here now, but he’s one of the linchpin players on a Giants defense that absolutely must be the difference-maker against the potent Vikings offense on Sunday.
He, too, is a big reason the Giants are in the playoffs — even as he’s battled through various injuries this season that have contributed to curbing his production, the current ailment being a nagging neck injury.
“That means a lot to me to be in the playoffs with this team,” Williams said. “It would feel amazing to me to make it to the playoffs and make it that far with guys that I’ve seen grinding every day for years and deserve it.”
No one inside the Giants locker room deserves Sunday in Minnesota more than Williams. No one has played at a high level while grinding and toiling without being rewarded with a postseason berth longer than Williams.
That’s why Giants defensive line coach Andre Patterson asked Williams to address his fellow linemen before the team played the Colts on New Year’s Day that would eventually clinch a playoff berth for the Giants.
“I had him talk to the group, mainly for the younger guys, to get them to understand that this opportunity doesn’t come around all the time,” Patterson said Friday. “He stood up and talked to the group about how his rookie year [the Jets] were 10 and something and all they had to do was win the last game [against Buffalo] and they’re in.
“When they lost the game, he’s thinking with that team they’re going to be there a bunch of times … and he’s never been in that situation again.”
Leonard Williams, left, participates in drills during Giants practice on Friday. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST
Until now.
“You have to cherish the opportunity when you have it,” Patterson said.
“Part of the excitement for the playoffs is seeing those guys that haven’t done it,” Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale said. “Seeing these guys the first time in it … that’s like seeing a kid on Christmas morning.”
I asked Williams if he might have a moment on the sideline before Sunday’s game when he’ll take a long look around and a deep breath and appreciate the destination after the long wait.
“There probably will be, yeah,” he said. “I know going out there on game day, knowing that I’m playing and there’s so many other teams that are at home, it’s going to feel special to me. I’m going to embrace it while it’s there, while I’m having that feeling, but after the national anthem, I’m going to treat it like another game.”
The reality is that Game No. 125 for Williams will be anything but just another game.