Cardinals rookie Garrett Williams makes red zone interception in NFL debut

Arizona Cardinals rookie Garrett Williams tore his ACL 12 months ago playing at Syracuse, a poorly timed injury concerning his pro ambitions.

Nonetheless, Williams went in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft and began the year on the non-football injury list, still recovering. He finally was activated Saturday and hit the Seattle gridiron Sunday in a 20-10 Arizona loss.

Among the few positives for the Cardinals at Lumen Field, Williams hit the gridiron running, picking off Geno Smith’s pass at the 1-yard line to kill a likely scoring drive by the Seahawks, who already led 17-10 by that point with 2:37 left in the third quarter.

Garrett Williams gets an INT near the goal line in his first NFL game 😱 @garrettismynam3

📺: #AZvsSEA on FOX
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/iTs8HMaXlh pic.twitter.com/sZo6DtFuGY

— NFL (@NFL) October 22, 2023

He became the first Cardinals rookie to record an interception in his first career game since Aeneas Williams did so in the 1991 opener against the Los Angeles Rams.

Williams earned defensive snaps with Marco Wilson, Kei’Trel Clark, Starling Thomas and Bobby Price all in the mix in Week 7.

The Cardinals (1-6) finished with three forced turnovers on the afternoon — and didn’t give the ball up themselves — but only scored a field goal out of those opportunities in the defeat.

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