Vikings coach Leslie Frazier told reporters Monday that defensive tackle Kevin Williams will have a reduced workload this season.
FOX Sports North reports that Frazier is hoping to limit Williams to no more than 35 snaps a game.
“I think with the snaps that he will get we will hopefully get even better play than we got out of him a season ago with having a young guy who can take some of those snaps off of him,” Frazier said. “The number of snaps Kevin gets will be high-quality snaps. He can still play and play very well. So if we can get what we are expecting from Shariff (Floyd), that is going to help take some of those snaps off of him and we should get more quality from him over time. That should be good for our team.”
“We are still going to use him in early downs as well as in third down situations, unless there is something that comes up and tells us to do something differently. But we want to use him in first and second down, and we want to use him on third down.”
When it come to passing the torch to Floyd, Frazier calls Williams a “pro’s pro.”
“He understands the business of professional football,” Frazier said. “He has been great, great for the young guys throughout the OTA’s, and as we started training his leadership has been terrific. If there is anybody who can handle moments like these when you draft a guy as early as we did with Sharrif; Kevin is the guy. He understands.”
But is it good for Williams?
“We’ll see. I don’t see that happening for me, but I’m not the coach,” Williams said. “I just have to do what the coaches say, whether I like it or not.”
For a full transcript of Frazier’s midday comments, via Vikings.com, click here.
To see video of the news conference, click here.
