Texas A&M’s Brandon Williams earns starting CB job with Arizona Cardinals

It’s been a unique road to NFL starting defensive back for Brandon Williams. He went from Oklahoma Sooners running back to Texas A&M running back to Texas A&M cornerback in the span of a few seasons. John Chavis and the Aggie coaching staff managed to shape him into a good enough defender to get him drafted in the third round, and as of yesterday, the role of starter with the Arizona Cardinals is “his to lose” according to coach Bruce Arians.

"Justin better get back quick, 'cause he's losing ground," Arians said. "You know, that's Brandon's job to lose right now. He's played extremely well, he's very competitive. You knew that because he was a great special teams player at A&M, learning how to play DB that one year. But he's long, he's fast."

Aggie coaches often singled out Williams for having the best work ethic and athleticism of his teammates. Arians said Williams has surpassed expectations.

"We knew what kind of athlete we were getting, but he's a better football player [than originally thought]," Arians said. "You never know how mature a guy is going to be when you draft him. He's very, very mature and he's focused on what he wants to do."

Williams is not the only Chavis-coached player on the Cardinals’ defense. DBs Patrick Peterson and Tyrann Mathieu and linebackers Kevin Minter and Lamar Louis also played for the Chief at LSU. Best of luck, Brandon!