‘Maybe we can 3-peat:’ Milton Williams savors monster Super Bowl performance

‘Maybe we can 3-peat:’ Milton Williams savors monster Super Bowl performance originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The best interior lineman in the Super Bowl wasn’t Chris Jones, the Chiefs’ future Hall of Famer. The best interior lineman in the Super Bowl wasn’t Jalen Carter, the Eagles’ 23-year-old All-Pro.

No, the best interior lineman in the Super Bowl was a humble 25-year-old former 3rd-round pick that very few people outside Philly had heard of.

Until Sunday.

Milton Williams had two sacks, two tackles for loss, a quarterback hit, a forced fumble and recovery and four tackles in the Eagles’ 40-22 win over the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX at the Superdome.

He’s the first interior lineman ever with two sacks and a forced fumble in a Super Bowl and the first player at any position since Von Miller of the Broncos nine years ago.

On the biggest stage, with the lights shining the brightest, with everything at stake, Williams had the game of his life.

“It was fun to be a part of, for sure,” Williams said. “I ain’t never been a part of a performance that dominant. I feel like I’m still dreaming a little bit. That was the biggest stage you can get on. I told my mom, ‘You dream of winning the Super Bowl, but winning it like that is like not real.’”

Williams, the Eagles’ 3rd-round pick in 2021, has been a very good interior lineman for four years now, but he’s played his career in the shadow of Fletcher Cox and Carter, two Pro Bowlers and All-Pros.

Yet he’s got 14 ½ sacks, 29 tackles for loss, 34 quarterback hits and three forced fumbles on his resume.

And a monster Super Bowl.

“The real football knowers, the football watchers, film watchers, they know what I’ve been doing since I got here,” Williams said. “Constantly getting better and better every year. Get on the biggest stage I want to perform and most importantly win. I didn’t really care how many sacks or whatever, but you want to make your impact known in the game.

“My pops always says make them call your name, make them say your name, get some conversation going about it. Yeah, man, it was fun. It was fun to be out there.”

The Eagles’ defense made life miserable for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs with six sacks, six tackles for loss, 11 quarterback hits and three takeaways. The Chiefs’ first nine drives netted no points and 65 yards. By then it was 34-0.

Josh Sweat contributed 2 ½ sacks, Jordan Davis one and rookie Jalyx Hunt added half a sack. The Eagles’ six sacks are one shy of the Super Bowl record, and they became only the fifth team with six sacks and three takeaways in a Super Bowl. The only other team to do that since the 1980s was the 2015 Broncos vs. the Panthers.

The Chiefs scored 16 meaningless points in the final three minutes, but that did nothing to change the reality that this was one of the most dominating performances by a defensive front in Super Bowl history.

“We were all out there together,” Williams said. “We were together as one and we went out there and did it together. It took everybody.”

Along with Zack Baun, Mekhi Becton and Josh Sweat, Williams is due to hit the open market if he doesn’t sign a new contract before free agency begins on March 10.

CBS Sports ranks Williams as the No. 6 projected free agent due to hit the market, NBC Sports Boston ranks him 8th, USA Today has him No. 9, FOX Sports ranks him No. 11 and ESPN 16th.

Spotrac projects Williams’ value on the open market at $12 million over three years, and for a guy who’s made about $6.9 million in his entire career, that’s serious money.

It’s not going to be easy for Howie Roseman to bring back everyone he wants, but Williams is a 25-year-old Super Bowl hero and you know he’s going to do everything he can to keep him.

“Right now I’m just kind of soaking all this stuff in,” he said. “Probably sometime when I get home with my family those (contract) conversations will start. But right now, I’m just soaking all this stuff in and being a champion.”

On the one hand, Williams wants to keep his options open. But when he talks about what the Eagles have built, when he talks about playing in two Super Bowls before his 26th birthday, when he talks about the remarkable young talent on this defensive line, it’s clear where he wants to be.

“Philly, we on the verge of doing something special,” he said. “I definitely can see back-to-back. Maybe we can three-peat. You know, we’ve got some guys over here, great coaches, great players. And, you know, I’d love to be back here for sure.

“Being part of history is an amazing feeling. Super Bowl champions forever. We can go do it again.”

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