Posted this in the Day 2 Thread, but probably better suited for here.
I watched some more full games of Williams. A couple from '25 and a couple from '24.
First off, I'm convinced he owed Klubnik money. It looks like Klubnik was trying to get Williams new teeth at times. Though Klubnik was also running for his life
Thoughts:
-Williams gets open
-I don't think he's a great fit on the outside, but I do think using him wide with slot rules/motions/route packages can absolutely work. So I'm not against him at Z, but I don't want him as a traditional Z. Has to be used like Atwell. But I think he is a slot receiver and it shouldn't be overthought or toyed with.
-When he catches the ball without having to contort his body, he is a YAC machine. But a lot of catches he had to reach back for/catch in significant areas of traffic. So his YAC was more limited than it would have been.
-Runs a varied and diverse route tree.
-Runs really good routes
-High point receiver.
-Not afraid of working in the middle of the field.
-Pretty good at the deep ball, but wasn't asked to do that often.
-People think Wesco is a better receiver, but Clemson preferred Williams statistically. To be fair to Wesco, I haven't studied him or watched him near enough to actually say. But at worst Williams was WR2 on Clemson in 2025. But Wesco missed 5 games. Williams 3. But in 2024, Williams was 100% the top guy on the team. Led the team in receptions and yards and TD by a significant margin.
-Clemson used him a lot on RPO hitches
-He looks much smaller than he is.
-I don't think he's a great blocker.
-Has some concentration drops and sometimes when a guy is barreling down on a quick hitter he doesn't get the ball secured fast enough and it gets jarred loose.
-Could use some work on his release package off the LoS. He dances too much, in my opinion. But, like Smith said, maybe Blough likes that? It does create space at times so it may be a positive long run.
-I've heard Santana Moss comparisons in Commander circles - I don't see Moss. I see Ladd McConkey a little bit. I see Jamison Crowder a little bit. I don't see Santana.
-Don't think he's a contested catch guy, but has strong enough hands that at times can pull one in in traffic. His super power is not being in traffic to find out, though.
Final Thoughts:
-I think he's going to have some concentration drops and struggle at times against NFL competition in the slot. But he is a significant upgrade to our slot position, a day one starter, immediate contributor, and I think he will continue to develop and be a really solid addition to our receiving corps. He is not a project like Lane and McCaffrey. He is ready to go right now. Just because he has things to work on does not mean he cannot be a high end contributor. I do worry some about durability, but his injury history is mostly missed games from 2023. He missed the first 2 in 2025 and played through injury, so that toughness is a big time positive. I wouldn't be surprised if he, at worst, is a 50/500/3 slot receiver for us in year one if he is healthy. I could see higher, but I don't want to set the bar too high for the young man.
Good pick. He makes us better.
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