Giants remove Leonard Williams from NFI list

The New York Giants have removed defensive lineman Leonard Williams from the non-football injury list on Friday.

The Giants placed Williams on the NFI list on August 2 with a hamstring issue. He now returns to the active roster and will take his place on the end of the Giants’ defensive line.

Williams was acquired along with $4 million in cash from the New York Jets last October in exchange for the Giants’ 2020 third-round selection (No. 68 overall, used to draft Cal safety Ashtyn Davis) and a 2021 conditional pick, which we now know to be a fifth-rounder.

Williams, the sixth overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft out of USC by the Jets, had just a half-sack in 15 games last season (eight with the Giants) and has just 17.5 sacks in his five year NFL career.

The 26-year-old Williams was an impending free agent after the 2019 season but the Giants applied the franchise tag on him after they could not reach a long-term contract agreement with him before the March deadline. Williams signed the one-year, $16.1 million deal in April.

Williams is expected to be the veteran presence on a Giants’ defensive front that also consists of former second-round pick Dalvin Tomlinson and Dexter Lawrence, a 2019 first-round selection.