-- When the Green Bay Packers brought home veteran cornerback Tramon Williams in March, they knew they were getting a seasoned leader to help guide a young unit.

They also knew they were getting someone who, despite turning 35 a week before the Packers signed him, can still play at a high level, as evidenced by his lone 2017 season with the Arizona Cardinals.

From his performance on the field to the unbridled level of wisdom and teaching he can bring to the locker room, Williams was potentially the Packers' best free agent signing of the offseason from a pure value perspective, and coach Mike McCarthy recognizes that.

"Tramon brings a whole different level of experience that we've never had here. Never," McCarthy said on Saturday prior to the Packers' second practice of rookie minicamp. "And I say that with great respect to Al Harris and Charles Woodson and those guys."

Williams spent the first eight seasons of his career in Green Bay after being signed as an undrafted free agent during the 2006 season. After being signed by the Cleveland Browns in 2015, it was in Cleveland where Williams would connect with his then-head coach and eventual defensive coordinator, Mike Pettine, for two years.

"Tramon's experience is so unique. He came in here and was on the practice squad, worked his way up, went through the program during some great years there, and then left. And then has a whole new set of experiences. And now he's able to bring that back, see the changes we've made since then.

"He just brings a whole different perspective of leadership and experience to that room."

While the Packers have evolved in ultimately every other facet of how they operate, Williams returns in hopes of emerging as the same capable player he was during his first stint in Green Bay and even while he played under Pettine in Cleveland.

Williams was in Green Bay when the Packers first brought in Pettine's predecessor, Dom Capers, and helped lead a unit that ranked as one of the top secondaries in the NFL for the span of Capers' first two seasons.

According to Williams, the league caught up to what the Packers were doing -- and nothing was done about it.

"I think [Pettine's] defense is modern day, "Williams said Friday on ESPN Wisconsin. "I was here in the era when Dom first came in. When he first came in, the defense was modern era and obviously, the league caught up to it. It was one of those things where the league caught up to it, and you have to make certain adjustments and over the years those adjustments weren't made."

Pettine thrives on creativity and manufacturing a multitude of different ways for his defense to find success -- no matter the parts he's working with. That could be a primary reason as to why the Packers decided not to address their ailing pass rush in the early rounds -- or mid-rounds -- of April's draft.

"Now you have a whole new offense. Quarterbacks are better. It's a passing league. Things have to change and you have to make adjustments, and I think Pettine has that mindset of knowing how to get to quarterbacks and how to attack protections and these different things with keeping it simple."