Jets said to be “listening to offers” for DL Leonard Williams

On Thursday, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer wrote a piece in SI’s MMQB that ran through some trade scenarios he thinks might be possible before the NFL trade deadline next Tuesday.

One of those involved the Kansas City Chiefs — and New York Jets defensive lineman Leonard Williams.

The Jets are listening to offers on former top-five pick Leonard Williams. The big defensive-linemen is a better player than Beasley, but carries similar logistics —he’s on a pricy fifth-year option and is not signed for 2020. Teams like the Chiefs and Eagles are seen as sensible landing spots for Williams, if the right price can be found. And that price, because of those big financials, might be relatively affordable for another team, maybe right around a third-round pick.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The only genuine news Breer seems to be uncovering is that the Jets are “listening to offers” for Williams. He is not reporting that the Chiefs are among the teams that are making offers for him — although they certainly could be. His only reference to the Chiefs is that Kansas City — along with the Philadelphia Eagles — would make a “sensible landing spot” for the fifth-year veteran.

Even that requires a bit of a qualifier, though. To support his “sensible landing spot” contention, Breer linked to another article written by SI’s Conor Orr on Wednesday — one that only made a case for the Eagles to make a trade for Williams.

Still, it could be a deal the Chiefs might consider.

Drafted in the first round (sixth overall) of the 2015 NFL Draft, the 6-foot-5, 302-pound defensive lineman has been more than solid — if not especially spectacular — for the Jets, notching 17 sacks, 236 tackles (120 solo), 32 tackles for loss and 90 quarterback hits in 70 games over four and a half seasons; it’s not hard to imagine that Williams could provide some help not only with the interior pass rush, but also with the run defense.

Since he is only 25 years old, the Chiefs could make a new deal with Williams that would keep him with the team for a sustained period — which the Chiefs would need to do. He is only under contract with the Jets through the current season, in which his guaranteed salary is $14.2 million.

Besides... since the Chiefs already have two running backs named Williams, why not go for broke and have two defensive linemen named Williams, too?