Jonah Williams on Potential Return to Bengals, Becoming a Free Agent
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00:00 - Well, like I just said, you made it
00:04 throughout the year playing every snap.
00:06 How's it feel?
00:07 - Feels good.
00:08 You know, I don't think it was a season
00:10 that we wanted or expected going in,
00:12 but like I was saying earlier,
00:15 I think there's a lot of positive things.
00:17 Like when I look back on the season,
00:19 a lot of, you know, really good personal relationships
00:22 that I have with my teammates and, you know,
00:24 tons of people in this organization.
00:26 So, you know, it's not the outcome we wanted,
00:29 but, you know, I definitely look positively on the season.
00:32 - Last week, you didn't necessarily want to talk
00:34 about the future some, but now the future's almost here.
00:37 Are you hoping to be back next season?
00:39 - I mean, it's very soon to say,
00:43 and I, like you said, it is after the last game,
00:47 but it's still, we're only a couple hours
00:49 after the last game.
00:50 So I haven't had a ton of time to think about it.
00:53 What I'm really thinking about now
00:54 is being able to go spend some more time with my family,
00:57 spend some more time with my daughter.
00:59 You know, it's always hard to miss bath time
01:01 or something like that.
01:02 We're on the road traveling,
01:03 so not going to miss a lot of those going forward here
01:07 in the next couple of months.
01:08 So that's kind of the most pressing thing on my mind.
01:11 - How would you describe kind of your journey here
01:12 in Cincy, you know, if this ends up being it for you,
01:15 what would you kind of make of this kind of experience here?
01:18 - A lot of appreciation.
01:20 You know, I was just talking to Coach Taylor about this,
01:24 I was his first draft pick, you know,
01:25 and that means a lot to me that he had that faith in me,
01:28 that I was, you know, one of the people
01:29 that he wanted to start building this program around.
01:31 And, you know, first year we went two and 14,
01:34 and it was tough and got the first pick in the draft,
01:36 ended up with Joey B and, you know,
01:39 went to a Super Bowl two years later
01:40 and AFC Championship the next year.
01:44 And, you know, like I said,
01:45 this year isn't what we wanted going in,
01:47 but, you know, it's been really fun to be a part of that.
01:51 And I just have a ton of appreciation for him
01:54 and, you know, the people who brought me in.
01:55 - What was Coach Taylor's response to that?
01:58 - I mean, he kind of echoed the same things.
01:59 I had a great conversation with him,
02:01 and, you know, I think that I gave my all, you know.
02:06 He picked me in the first round,
02:08 and I gave my all over the last five years.
02:10 And like I said, I don't know what the future holds,
02:12 but I'm proud of what we built here
02:15 and appreciative of the opportunity.
02:17 - What's it been like to, I mean,
02:18 see the change and kind of transformation in him
02:21 and the franchise from the moment you got in to now?
02:24 'Cause I think very few have kind of seen it
02:26 in the way that you have.
02:27 - Yeah, I think that the culture as it is now
02:30 is really positive and, you know,
02:34 nine and eight isn't what we wanted going in,
02:36 but the culture is still there.
02:38 And that's the same culture that got us to the Super Bowl,
02:40 to the AFC Championship last year,
02:42 and, you know, that's going to continue
02:43 to build on in the future.
02:46 And I think that starts with Zach,
02:49 the coaches that he's brought on,
02:50 and the people that he's brought on.
02:52 You know, I think everyone in this locker room
02:54 is a really positive teammate
02:56 and have contributed a lot in whatever way, big or small.
03:01 And, you know, you can't replace people like that.
03:05 - How valuable do you think you've made yourself
03:06 by being able to play both left and right tackle?
03:09 - I hope valuable, but that's not, you know,
03:11 that's not what I was thinking about going in.
03:14 I'm, as you guys can tell from my answers,
03:16 I'm a very like small picture guy.
03:18 I don't like to think about the big picture.
03:19 I feel like there's too many variables
03:22 and that I like to kind of distill everything down
03:24 to what I can do every day.
03:26 And what I could do this year was to show up
03:29 and play right tackle at a high level.
03:30 And that's what I dedicated myself to.
03:32 And, you know, I think I did a good job of that.
03:34 So, you know, I hope that helps my value in some way,
03:37 but that wasn't what I was trying to do going in.
03:39 I was just trying to be a better right tackle tomorrow
03:41 than I was today, or today than I was yesterday.
03:44 And just continue to do that throughout the whole year.
03:46 - Off season training wise,
03:48 will you train on both sides now until free agency?
03:51 Will you kind of leave it open-ended
03:52 until you know what, where you're at?
03:55 - I'll train on both sides.
03:55 I think that, you know,
03:58 what's cool is being able to go into this off season
04:01 not having to rehab.
04:03 You know, I went into the last off season,
04:04 I had to get surgery and rehab.
04:05 And so that was a whole other thing.
04:07 And this season, this off season,
04:08 I get to go into it healthy and, you know,
04:11 just start training normally.
04:13 I don't have to, I don't have to rehab anything.
04:14 So yeah, that'll involve both sides,
04:16 but mostly it'll just involve more strength training
04:19 and, you know, all that good stuff.
04:21 - What's the ride been like seeing the line go
04:23 from a group that took a lot of heat
04:24 to a group that, you know, just had a standout season
04:26 and, you know, a veteran group that gets some recognition?
04:29 - It's been great.
04:30 I'm so appreciative of the guys on the line.
04:33 And I think it was really a testament
04:36 to a lot of guys, you know, toughness
04:38 and all those things that we're able to try it out.
04:40 The same starting five, all 17 games this year.
04:43 And those starting five are some of the best teammates
04:46 we've ever had, both as players and as people.
04:49 You know, I think even in this last game,
04:52 not the, not the size of the game we wanted it to be.
04:57 You know, we wanted it to be in the playoffs
04:59 or at least playing to get in.
05:00 And it wasn't that, but there were,
05:02 there were so many good communications happening
05:05 at the line of scrimmage
05:06 and so many good nonverbal communications too,
05:08 just working really well together.
05:11 And, you know, also really good fake communication
05:14 to draw a thousand offsides or encroachments, I think.
05:18 It was, it was quite a lot.
05:19 So I thought that was a cool testament
05:21 to kind of how far we've come as a line
05:23 and how veteran of a group it was that we were,
05:25 that, I mean, you guys don't see it,
05:26 but there were, there were a lot of little quick adjustments
05:28 we made before that ended up popping off big runs
05:30 by, by mix and things like that.
05:32 So that was kind of a fun way to end the season
05:35 was to, was to work together that well as a unit.
05:38 - Speaking of teammates, you and Jake Browning go way back.
05:40 What did he prove to the rest of the NFL this year?
05:43 - I mean, he can, he can play quarterback in the NFL
05:46 and not in a preseason game, not in, not in training camp,
05:49 but, but in real regular season games.
05:51 And I think he did that.
05:53 And, you know, I think he set himself up really well
05:54 for the future.
05:56 Great quarterback, great locker room guy,
05:58 and, you know, be it a starter or backup,
06:01 he's a guy you want in your locker room.
06:03 - You positioned yourself to be maybe the top available
06:06 free agent offensive lineman this year,
06:08 which is a pretty good place to be.
06:09 Are you excited about the process and the months to come?
06:13 - I am.
06:14 I'm, I'm, like I said, I'm a small picture guy.
06:17 It's, it's, it's hard for me to think about things like that.
06:19 I like to focus on the, on the small stuff and, you know,
06:23 kind of let the chips fall as they may.
06:25 I, I, I do that because I know that focusing on the small
06:28 stuff is the right way to get to the big stuff, I guess.
06:32 And it takes some of that stress off of me of having to,
06:34 having to think about the big picture.
06:36 So, you know, I've, I've taken the season day by day,
06:41 and that's also how I'm going to take the off season,
06:43 however it plays out.
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