Quincy Williams describes himself as 'cheetah chasing gazelle,' raves about Mike Rutenberg, opens up about issues with Jets

Quincy Williams lit up the introductory Zoom.He also plans to light up the linebacker room … and anyone with the ball."Cheetah chasing a gazelle when he first wake up," Williams said Friday when asked to describe his style of play.Zone Coverage PodcastHe was one of the Browns' free agent acquisitions this week, signing a two-year deal that can be worth up to $17 million. He replaced Devin Bush, who left for the Bears on a three-year, $30 million deal.Williams, 29, explained the wildlife analogy."Biggest thing is speed, speed, speed," the 5-foot-11, 230-pounder said. "So my mindset is be there before the ball gets there or be there before the runner or receiver knows you're there. So the only way I can do that is by my preparation, No. 1. That's making sure that the game plan's right, making sure I know where I need to be, making sure I know where my teammates are, too, so I know what plays I can take and I know what shots I can take."And so all that put together, it looks like a cheetah chasing a gazelle. Because I know where I'm going and I know how fast I need to be to get there before you turn around."Williams said he didn't have expectations entering free agency after five years with the Jets. The Browns quickly pivoted from hopes of re-signing Bush and Williams quickly said yes."I ain't really had no thought on it until Monday. And when I first got that call, the crazy thing, the first person that called me was Rudy," Williams said.Andrew Berry attacks No. 1 offseason priority with series of offensive line acquisitionsRudy is new Browns defensive coordinator Mike Rutenberg, who was assistant linebackers coach with the Jaguars when Williams was drafted in the third round in 2019 out of Murray State and linebackers coach for his first four years with the Jets."Oh, that's my dawg. He's like my brother," Williams said. "First thing before we talk about football, the biggest thing is Rudy cares about the heart. Biggest thing, what I did off the field affects what I do on the field. So I can show up as myself, show up as this personality, always smiling as me, show up every single day at work like that."On the field, taught me every single thing I knew as far as the linebacker positions in the league."New Browns LB Quincy Williams on DC Mike Rutenberg. pic.twitter.com/iLxrgTiMho— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) March 13, 2026https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsRutenberg talked last week about how he and Williams "connected from the heart" during their time in Jacksonville."He cares about you as a person and he understands that to get something out of a person, you have to first understand what the person come from and what type of person he is," Williams said. "He takes the time to actually right before meetings and stuff, 'How everybody doing? What everybody got going on?' Asking about families. So then you feel comfortable, but you also feel connected to your position group because you know everybody's why."Rutenberg is a coordinator for the first time and replaced Jim Schwartz, who was loved, respected and led the defense to a No. 1 overall ranking over his three seasons in Cleveland. Williams believes Rutenberg is ready for the role."Not to be cocky, but his first thing he did was come and get me. That's the most important thing he did," he said. "Always going to make sure to keep him level- headed, so I know he's going to be positive in every single thing this year. We feed off each other."I'm going to push him the same way he pushes me. And with me pushing him, I would hope that the other players will feel comfortable enough to have those conversations with him, too."Punter Corey Bojorquez re-signs for fifth season with BrownsWilliams joined the Jets in 2021 after two lackluster seasons with the Jaguars and immediately began a streak of four straight seasons with 100 tackles. He started 73 of 78 games and was a first-team All-Pro in 2023 when he had a career-best 139 tackles, 15 tackles for loss, two sacks, an interception, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and 10 passes defensed. He has 10 forced fumbles for his career.He said the breakthrough with New York was because he was given permission to be himself."They let me play free, let me be the athlete I am, far as zones and things like that," he said. "And then also being more in man coverage, not really being focused on my eyes until I got ready to train my eyes. And then later in 2023, that's when I was ready for the full package of the Jets defense. I knew exactly where I was supposed to be at. I knew that it was simple and it was just run and hit, run and hit, so it was easier to play in."His time with the Jets ended on a sour note. He missed time with a shoulder injury last season — he said he's healthy — finished with 83 tackles and was demoted for a win over the Browns, coming off the bench to make eight tackles, including two for loss and a sack."Last year is one of those seasons where I felt like I didn't even play football," Williams said. "It's already over with, moving forward, new team, new colors, new everything."Right now, all I've got to do is just change this green in my hair. Really. I'm over here still thinking about it because the green is because I'm the Joker, not because I played for the Jets, but it's just too close for comfort."Mr. Personality then told the media relations person to save the quote."Hey, I actually need that clip," he said. "That's going to be a clip."While Williams is eager to move past his time with the Jets, he granted a final question on the topic and didn't hold back.Browns LB Quincy Williams on why he was benched for start vs. Browns last year. pic.twitter.com/MNIllkR4aV— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) March 13, 2026https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"I'm going to be completely honest right now. I haven't been completely honest just because I didn't want it to be a distraction during the season," he said. "But the reason why I got demoted wasn't because of performance at all whatsoever. But what actually happened was me and a coach got into a conversation about something that he felt like he didn't agree on and he used his power and set me down and I only sat down for three plays. So it was just I didn't get to start. I played the rest of the season, started the rest of the season."He took the benching out on the Browns."I was playing off of rage because I didn't practice the whole entire week because he was trying to prove a point," he said. "So that Monday kind of felt stupid because I didn't practice the whole week and I still came out and balled out."The post Quincy Williams describes himself as 'cheetah chasing gazelle,' raves about Mike Rutenberg, opens up about issues with Jets first appeared on BrownsZone with Scott Petrak.