← 2020 DRAFT PLAYER PROFILE R7 · #229 OVERALL · DE

James Smith-Williams

Drafted by WAS · GM Ron Rivera · North Carolina St.

All NFL teams

Full-career context

These totals follow James Smith-Williams across every NFL team. Draft credit is separated below for each team that selected him.

Games played65
Games started32
Weighted career AV15
Pro Bowls0
AP1 All-Pro0
Career seasons5

Accountability by draft event

What each drafting team received

2020 · Round 7 · #229

WAS draft credit

GM Ron Rivera

Team games55
Team starts27
On-team AV14
On-team PB / AP10 / 0
Excellent+1.28 contribution3rd of 33 picks for this GM

Games: direct team-season record. Starts: direct team-season record.

An Excellent pick

James Smith-Williams was Ron Rivera's 3rd-best of 33 picks across his career.

His retained-value contribution score (opportunity plus quality plus recognition, with related outcomes collapsed inside each bucket) is +1.28. This is a per-pick accountability metric, separate from Ron Rivera's leaderboard composite θ.

The walkthrough below shows which bucket carried the pick: playing time, value quality, or league honors.

Opportunity
Did he earn the field?
Games played
55
on drafting team · 65 full-career
Games started
27
on drafting team · 32 full-career
Snap-z
1.1
4 modeled seasons
Quality
Was that time valuable?
On-team AV
14
modeled; full weighted AV 15
AV / 1k snaps
7.5
1,857 snaps in rate base
AV-rate z
+0.0
position-year adjusted quality
Recognition
Did the league notice?
Pro Bowls
0
all on drafting team
AP1 All-Pro
0 AP1
all on drafting team · AP2 context 0
All-Decade
0
context only

Did this pick move Ron Rivera's grade?

The first chart removes the time axis: every Ron Rivera pick is sorted by retained contribution across opportunity, quality, and recognition. James Smith-Williams totals +1.28. The second chart breaks that same contribution into the seasons when the evidence arrived. Opportunity and quality can move separately, which keeps high-snap, low-AV profiles from looking cleaner than they are.

Aggregate contribution by player

-10+1216. Curl#216 · Kamren Curl · aggregate +1.42144. Howell#144 · Sam Howell · aggregate +1.42229. Smith-Williams#229 · James Smith-Williams · aggregate +1.28Smith-Williams +1.3225. Cheeseman#225 · Camaron Cheeseman · aggregate +0.8598. Jr.#98 · Brian Robinson Jr. · aggregate +0.8451. Cosmi#51 · Samuel Cosmi · aggregate +0.58230. Paul#230 · Chris Paul · aggregate +0.49163. Forrest#163 · Darrick Forrest · aggregate +0.38193. Rodriguez#193 · Chris Rodriguez · aggregate +0.3566. Gibson#66 · Antonio Gibson · aggregate +0.33124. Bates#124 · John Bates · aggregate +0.3374. St-Juste#74 · Benjamin St-Juste · aggregate +0.28233. Jones#233 · Andre Jones · aggregate +0.25240. Holmes#240 · Christian Holmes · aggregate +0.1647. Martin#47 · Quan Martin · aggregate -0.00137. Henry#137 · K.J. Henry · aggregate -0.05113. Butler#113 · Percy Butler · aggregate -0.07162. Hudson#162 · Khaleke Hudson · aggregate -0.13149. Turner#149 · Cole Turner · aggregate -0.42246. Toney#246 · Shaka Toney · aggregate -0.47258. Milne#258 · Dax Milne · aggregate -0.53156. Ismael#156 · Keith Ismael · aggregate -0.6582. Brown#82 · Dyami Brown · aggregate -0.68240. Bradley-King#240 · William Bradley-King · aggregate -0.72108. Charles#108 · Saahdiq Charles · aggregate -0.7319. Davis#19 · Jamin Davis · aggregate -0.80118. Daniels#118 · Braeden Daniels · aggregate -0.8897. Stromberg#97 · Ricky Stromberg · aggregate -0.982. Young#2 · Chase Young · aggregate -0.99142. Gandy-Golden#142 · Antonio Gandy-Golden · aggregate -1.0616. Forbes#16 · Emmanuel Forbes · aggregate -1.3216. Dotson#16 · Jahan Dotson · aggregate -1.3547. Mathis#47 · Phidarian Mathis · aggregate -1.38

Incremental contribution by season

-10-8-6-4-20+2+4+6+8+10+122020 · James Smith-Williams · incremental +0.492020 · Kamren Curl · incremental +0.952020 · Antonio Gibson · incremental -0.142020 · Khaleke Hudson · incremental -0.182020 · Keith Ismael · incremental -0.372020 · Saahdiq Charles · incremental -0.612020 · Antonio Gandy-Golden · incremental -1.222020 · Chase Young · incremental -2.652021 · Camaron Cheeseman · incremental +0.122021 · Darrick Forrest · incremental +0.142021 · John Bates · incremental +0.232021 · Antonio Gibson · incremental +0.442021 · Kamren Curl · incremental +0.962021 · James Smith-Williams · incremental +1.052021 · Samuel Cosmi · incremental -0.062021 · Benjamin St-Juste · incremental -0.072021 · Shaka Toney · incremental -0.262021 · Saahdiq Charles · incremental -0.432021 · Antonio Gandy-Golden · incremental -0.432021 · Dyami Brown · incremental -0.532021 · Dax Milne · incremental -0.562021 · Jamin Davis · incremental -0.892021 · Chase Young · incremental -0.902021 · Keith Ismael · incremental -0.952021 · Khaleke Hudson · incremental -0.952021 · William Bradley-King · incremental -1.382022 · Chris Paul · incremental +0.202022 · John Bates · incremental +0.242022 · Benjamin St-Juste · incremental +0.252022 · Samuel Cosmi · incremental +0.272022 · Christian Holmes · incremental +0.292022 · Brian Robinson Jr. · incremental +0.302022 · Antonio Gibson · incremental +0.332022 · Darrick Forrest · incremental +0.472022 · Kamren Curl · incremental +0.672022 · Dyami Brown · incremental +0.692022 · Camaron Cheeseman · incremental +0.862022 · Chase Young · incremental +1.002022 · James Smith-Williams · incremental +1.182022 · Percy Butler · incremental -0.002022 · William Bradley-King · incremental -0.142022 · Dax Milne · incremental -0.202022 · Keith Ismael · incremental -0.222022 · Antonio Gandy-Golden · incremental -0.262022 · Shaka Toney · incremental -0.372022 · Saahdiq Charles · incremental -0.392022 · Cole Turner · incremental -0.572022 · Khaleke Hudson · incremental -0.622022 · Phidarian Mathis · incremental -0.732022 · Jamin Davis · incremental -0.742022 · Sam Howell · incremental -0.952022 · Jahan Dotson · incremental -1.462023 · Quan Martin · incremental +0.082023 · Darrick Forrest · incremental +0.162023 · Christian Holmes · incremental +0.212023 · Andre Jones · incremental +0.242023 · John Bates · incremental +0.302023 · Antonio Gibson · incremental +0.312023 · Chris Paul · incremental +0.342023 · Chris Rodriguez · incremental +0.362023 · Benjamin St-Juste · incremental +0.442023 · James Smith-Williams · incremental +0.572023 · Samuel Cosmi · incremental +0.592023 · Camaron Cheeseman · incremental +0.712023 · Brian Robinson Jr. · incremental +0.892023 · Kamren Curl · incremental +1.192023 · Khaleke Hudson · incremental +1.712023 · Sam Howell · incremental +4.412023 · Percy Butler · incremental -0.012023 · K.J. Henry · incremental -0.152023 · Shaka Toney · incremental -0.202023 · Dax Milne · incremental -0.202023 · Chase Young · incremental -0.252023 · Antonio Gandy-Golden · incremental -0.302023 · Dyami Brown · incremental -0.322023 · Saahdiq Charles · incremental -0.402023 · Cole Turner · incremental -0.482023 · Jamin Davis · incremental -0.572023 · Jahan Dotson · incremental -1.512023 · Braeden Daniels · incremental -1.522023 · Phidarian Mathis · incremental -1.622023 · Emmanuel Forbes · incremental -1.632023 · Ricky Stromberg · incremental -1.642024 · Percy Butler · incremental +0.072024 · Quan Martin · incremental +0.172024 · Darrick Forrest · incremental +0.232024 · Chris Paul · incremental +0.292024 · Jamin Davis · incremental +0.312024 · Andre Jones · incremental +0.372024 · John Bates · incremental +0.372024 · Benjamin St-Juste · incremental +0.392024 · Chris Rodriguez · incremental +0.392024 · Samuel Cosmi · incremental +0.632024 · Brian Robinson Jr. · incremental +0.882024 · Christian Holmes · incremental -0.102024 · Shaka Toney · incremental -0.182024 · Dax Milne · incremental -0.182024 · Keith Ismael · incremental -0.212024 · Braeden Daniels · incremental -0.252024 · Antonio Gandy-Golden · incremental -0.272024 · Ricky Stromberg · incremental -0.292024 · Phidarian Mathis · incremental -1.042024 · Dyami Brown · incremental -1.192024 · Emmanuel Forbes · incremental -1.712025 · Percy Butler · incremental +0.142025 · Quan Martin · incremental +0.182025 · Chris Rodriguez · incremental +0.232025 · Samuel Cosmi · incremental +0.232025 · John Bates · incremental +0.332025 · Chris Paul · incremental +0.452025 · Christian Holmes · incremental -0.092025 · Dax Milne · incremental -0.192025 · Shaka Toney · incremental -0.192025 · Braeden Daniels · incremental -0.282025 · Ricky Stromberg · incremental -0.32Smith-Williams +0.5Young -2.6Smith-Williams +1.1Smith-Williams +1.2Smith-Williams +0.6Hudson +1.7Howell +4.4Dotson -1.5Daniels -1.5Mathis -1.6Forbes -1.6Stromberg -1.6Forbes -1.720208 players202118 players202226 players202331 players202421 players202511 players
Above expectationBelow expectationJames Smith-WilliamsGM total -4.3James Smith-Williams by season +3.3

How much retained production did James Smith-Williams return vs. his slot?

Each mark below is one player's model value above slot. Light gray marks are slot-similar peers: DEs drafted within ±5 picks of James Smith-Williams since 2010 (22 players).The score is the retained production/value bucket from the pick-residual model: on-team AV plus AV-rate quality, adjusted for draft slot, position, and era. Opportunity snaps and league honors are excluded.

0+0.5Model value above slot229. Smith-WilliamsJames Smith-Williams · model value +0.6+0.6226. BuchananMichael Buchanan · model value +0.2233. JonesAndre Jones · model value +0.1230. WilsonC.J. Wilson · model value +0.1232. ScruggsGreg Scruggs · model value +0.1232. KirlewJammie Kirlew · model value 0224. WhiteMarkus White · model value 0231. PowellTy Powell · model value 0233. BassDavid Bass · model value 0231. GardnerBen Gardner · model value 0234. FedeTerrence Fede · model value 0226. SelvieGeorge Selvie · model value 0227. IfediMartin Ifedi · model value -0.1226. WoodardJonathan Woodard · model value -0.1234. PriceEjuan Price · model value -0.1232. LooneyJames Looney · model value -0.1225. WillekesKenny Willekes · model value -0.1229. JohnsonP.J. Johnson · model value -0.1233. ToohillCasey Toohill · model value -0.2234. JohnsonPatrick Johnson · model value -0.2230. MatthewsCliff Matthews · model value -0.2225. JohnsonDarryl Johnson · model value -0.4230. BellQuinton Bell · model value -0.5
James Smith-WilliamsSlot-similar peers (22)

Cumulative value over time

Year-by-year running totals since draft. Left axis = games started. Right axis = honors (Pro Bowl / AP1 / AP2). Pre-2013 picks have no games-started line because that comes from per-game snap counts (not available for older players). Honors extend back to 1980.

'20'22'2401122334401Cumulative GSHonors count
Games started (cumulative) Pro Bowls AP1 All-Pro AP2 All-Pro

Full-career season history (5 scored seasons)

YearTeamGPGSSnapsSnap-zAVAV/snapPBAP1AP2
2020WAS1413375-0.012.7
2021WAS14105170.635.8
2022WAS14135210.5713.4
2023WAS1354440.136.8
2024ATL103307-0.226.5

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