New England Patriots rookie cornerback Joejuan Williams was arrested in Tennessee last Friday.
Williams, a former 247Sports Composite four-star recruit from Nashville, was pulled over for speeding in his hometown, per CBS Boston. After the stop, Tennessee Highway Patrol says it located drug paraphernalia. The Patriots defender was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, drug paraphernalia and prescription drugs without a prescription. The arrest took place at 9:37 p.m. CT.
The Patriots selected Williams in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft. The cornerback spent three seasons at Vanderbilt prior to entering the draft. He finished his junior season with 61 total tackles, four interceptions and 13 passes defended. At the NFL Combine, he ran a 4.64 second 40-yard dash and put up 17 reps on the bench press. New England head coach Bill Belichick traded a second-round pick and a third-round selection to the Los Angeles Rams in order to move up and select Williams with the No. 45 overall pick.
“I feel like I have the complete package – I can run, cover and hit,” Williams said during his conference call following his selection by the Patriots last April. “At the end of the day, if you look at all of my numbers in the SEC, I was ranked first in everything, whether it was passes defended, pass break-ups, interceptions as a corner, solo tackles as a corner. So, I feel like that complete package is what I bring to the team.”
He added: “I definitely consider myself a leader. You know, with my corners group, I would always, each week do it up right up on their three best wide receivers, send it out to the corners group message and the DBs group message and let them have at it. But I mean, I definitely feel like I was a leader. I feel like for me, I led by example. I led by actions. I’m not the type that’s going to yell and get in your face about anything. I want to lead by action, I want to lead by making plays.”
The Patriots went 12-4 in the regular season to make the playoffs, but they were upset by the Tennessee Titans during wild card weekend. The Titans advanced to the AFC Championship Game before losing to the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City will meet the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl 54 on Feb. 2 in Miami.
“Williams was active for just nine regular-season games, playing 80 total snaps on defense (8 percent) plus 84 snaps on special teams (19 percent),” CBS Boston wrote. “He recorded four total tackles (three solo) and defended one pass. He was active for the Patriots’ lone postseason game, taking five snaps on defense and 12 snaps on special teams.”
Williams is the second Patriots player to have a run-in with authorities since their season ended. Veteran Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman was arrested in Beverly Hills earlier this month after he reportedly leaped on the hood of someone’s Mercedes “for an unknown reason” causing damage. Edelman has a court date scheduled for April 13.