MIAMI, FL - NOVEMBER 04: Leonard Williams #92 of the New York Jets warms up ahead of their game against the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium on November 4, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images)

The New York Giants have received criticism after acquiring Leonard Williams, but here’s a case for it actually making sense.

On Monday afternoon, the New York Giants made an interesting and incredibly rare trade with their crosstown rivals, the New York Jets. Big Blue coughed up a 2020 third-round pick, and a 2021 fifth-round pick for interior defensive lineman Leonard Williams. Williams came to the Jets as the sixth-overall pick in 2015 after a standout career at USC, and has shown flashes of Pro Bowl caliber play, while also never missing a game due to injury.

His main issue – like many other young players in the league – has been finding consistency. Williams has yet to register a sack in his 2019 campaign and only has two sacks over the past calendar year. Many have been scratching their heads at this trade, due to his contract expiring at this season’s end, and the Giants’ willingness to part with draft picks now, rather than just exploring signing him when he was a free agent at year’s end.

While I can definitely understand the uneasiness of that, overall, I support this move. For one, Williams is going to pair with rookie Dexter Lawrence who has arguably been the best rookie interior defensive lineman in the league. Lawrence’s ability to push the pocket, disrupt quarterback’s vision, and swallow running backs up like pills, should allow Williams to have more one on one’s and in turn, force his own penetration.

Per Pro Football Focus, Dexter Lawrence ranks second in the NFL in pass-rush win rate among qualified rookie interior-lineman with a 9.9% success rate. Lawrence has shown he has the capabilities to cause a major disturbance. Pairing him with Williams, a former Pro Bowler that’s only 25-years old, and has 14 quarterback pressures on the season (double the amount Big Blue’s current team leaders), makes it easy to envision this line potentially being something special.

When controversial moves like these happen, the gut instinct can be to lash out in frustration and express blind rage. But please, before you go for Gettleman’s throat, understand that the majority of the bold chances and moves that this team has made recently have not gone horribly wrong, like many felt impulsively in the initial moments after them. The Odell Beckham Jr. trade is a perfect example of this, as it seemed awful on the surface, but seems to have evened out. Selecting Daniel Jones sixth-overall is another solid example, as the rookie looks to have been a diamond in the rough.

I truly feel that Leonard Williams is going to feast in this system, and have a revitalization in his career.