Pete Prisco Predicts All-Pro Season for Packers Safety Evan Williams in Jonathan Gannon’s Defense
Evan Williams has quietly become one of the more productive young safeties in the NFL. Now, with Jonathan Gannon running Green Bay’s defense, one national voice thinks Williams is about to break through completely.
CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco says he expects Williams to play at an All-Pro level this season, pointing to new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s scheme as the launching pad. Prisco posted on X: “I look for Evan Williams to play at an All-Pro level this year.” —
The defense will have to manufacture pressure until Parsons is back, but Jonathan Gannon’s defense, with three safeties on the field, will throw a lot of looks at teams to pressure the QB. I look for Evan Williams to play at an All-Pro level this year.
— Pete Prisco (@PriscoCBS) August 5, 2026
Gannon replaced Jeff Hafley as Green Bay’s defensive coordinator back in late January, shortly after Hafley left to become head coach of the Miami Dolphins, according to NFL.com. Gannon spent the previous three seasons as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals before Arizona moved on from him following a 2025 season that closed with nine straight losses, per ClutchPoints. Before that, he ran a top-five Philadelphia defense that reached Super Bowl LVII.
Gannon’s Three-Safety Package Is Already Live at Camp
Training camp reports out of Green Bay back that idea up. Gannon has installed a five-defensive-back nickel package that keeps three safeties — Xavier McKinney, Williams and Javon Bullard — on the field together as a base look, not a situational wrinkle.
McKinney has openly praised the shift. “Obviously we got this three-safety look going on, which we love it right now and I think we’re gonna continue to love it,” McKinney said, crediting the freedom Gannon gives the trio to roam and disguise coverages before the snap.
For a defense trying to stay afloat until Micah Parsons returns from a torn ACL, the versatility matters. Parsons tore the ACL — and dealt with a meniscus issue — in Week 15 last season and has been on the physically unable to perform list to open camp. He said this week he isn’t setting a hard return date, though a Week 5 or 6 window remains plausible under the league’s PUP practice rules. Until he’s back rushing the passer, Gannon needs other ways to generate pressure and disguise the back end, and the three-safety look is a big part of that plan.
Williams’ Breakout Numbers From 2025
Williams gives Gannon a piece worth building around. Across his first two NFL seasons, the 2024 fourth-round pick out of Oregon has racked up 149 tackles, eight passes defended and four interceptions. He set new career highs in 2025 with 100 tackles, five passes defended and three interceptions across 16 games — the first time he cracked triple digits in stops.
| Season | Tackles | Passes Defended | Interceptions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 (Rookie) | 49 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 100 | 5 | 3 |
| Career Total | 149 | 8 | 4 |
Williams played 80.6 percent of Green Bay’s defensive snaps last season, fourth-most on the team, and he’s told reporters he expects an even bigger role under Gannon — including more time in the box to help against the run, a departure from how Hafley primarily deployed him deeper in coverage.
“Scheme is everything if you can get it down, and I feel like [it fits] with the people we’ve got,” Williams said of Gannon’s system. “I feel like we’ve got so much variety, a lot of people that can do a lot of things.”
Why Gannon’s Scheme Suits Williams
Gannon’s defense leans heavily on disguise. In Arizona, his unit ran quarters coverage and Cover 3 roughly a quarter of the time each, a heavier dose of two-high safety shells than what Hafley called in Green Bay. That structure asks safeties to show one look before the snap and rotate into another after it — exactly the kind of chess match McKinney, Williams and Bullard say they’ve been drilling all camp.
The interchangeability is the point. McKinney and Williams can both play deep in the post or crash down as a box safety, while Bullard slides between the slot and safety alignments. That flexibility lets Gannon keep his three best defensive backs on the field regardless of personnel grouping, rather than subbing pieces in and out based on down and distance.
If Williams takes the step Prisco is projecting, it wouldn’t come out of nowhere. He was already trending toward being one of the league’s more complete young safeties, and a scheme built to maximize exactly what he does well only raises the ceiling.
