NFL Analysis
3/26/25
6 min read
From Underrated to Unstoppable: Kyle Williams’ Rise Up 2025 Draft Boards
Washington State receiver Kyle Williams entered the spring as an unknown prospect, but has skyrocketed up media boards over the last month. I believe the hype is warranted and more than just a late-cycle bandwagon. Based on his tape, Senior Bowl performance, and athletic testing, Williams is one of the best receivers in this class and should be a day two pick.
After three years at UNLV, Williams transferred to Washington State for the 2023 season. In two seasons with the Cougars, he recorded 131 receptions, 2,038 yards, and 20 touchdowns.
Williams is undersized at just 5105/190. While he plays bigger than his measurables, this is the main thing holding me back from giving him a first round grade. He verified his speed at the combine, running a 4.40 in the 40-yard dash (86th percentile).
PRESS
Kyle Williams is the best receiver in this class against press coverage. He has a diverse release package with rhythmic and decisive footwork. There’s very little wasted movement as he closes cushion, attacks leverage, and creates space from the defender. He’s impossible to touch at the line of scrimmage and dodges press jams like he’s playing in slow motion.
He uses a diamond release to beat press coverage and separate on slant routes. With the first few steps he attacks the outside shoulder and sells an outside release. This forces the defender to either open his hips to the sideline or lean back on his heels, allowing Williams to rapidly cross his face and separate over the middle of the field:
Here he wins off the line of scrimmage with a diamond release, but breaks his route to the back corner of the end zone and makes an acrobatic double catch:
He also uses hesitations and stutter steps to set up outside speed releases. His initial footwork freezes the defender and prevents him from getting an early read on the deep route. Williams is then capable of urgently shifting gears and stacking him vertically:
On this play he takes an outside release and fully commits to pushing his route vertically, before sinking his hips and decelerating on a dime:
This rep shows Williams’ fluidity and quick response time to avoid contact at the line of scrimmage. As he plants his left foot to sell the outside release, the defender lunges into him with an aggressive two-hand jam. Williams is able to suddenly retract his body to evade the punch and accelerate downfield before the defender can recover:
INTERMEDIATE ROUTE RUNNING
Williams is a smooth route runner with efficient footwork in and out of breaks. He projects as a three-level separator who can win as a deep threat and intermediate chain-mover.
He has the flexibility to make crisp cuts at sharp angles and can separate on sail routes and blaze-outs. Here he stems his route inside, influencing the defender to drive on what he thinks is a deep over. He then quickly breaks outside and creates several yards of separation:
Williams can quickly throttle down and work back to the ball on stops and comebacks. He also does a great job of attacking the defender’s blind spot when they’re bailing with their back to the sideline. By accelerating out of the defender’s field of vision, he makes them think he’s running vertically and causes them to continue to get depth as he cuts of his route:
DEEP ROUTE RUNNING
This play shows his ability to quickly shift gears and create early vertical separation. After flattening his route and forcing the defender to drive downhill, he explodes out of his break and reaches top speed in just a few steps:
Williams has good speed, but he isn’t quite fast enough to rely solely on athleticism to win vertically. His salesmanship and advanced footwork is what makes him a dangerous deep route runner.
Here the defender is playing with heavy outside leverage to remove space for Williams to run a slot fade. Williams stems upfield in a straight line, eliminating the cushion and preserving the threat of an in-breaking route. Since he doesn’t widen his path or do anything to even out his leverage, the defender is forced to respect the threat of a deep post. At the top of the route, Williams stutters and plants his inside foot, which causes the defender to turn his hips inside. Williams then crosses over and explodes into a slot fade:
On these plays, Williams is running an in-breaking route, but the defender is playing with inside leverage. If he ran these robotically, with no nuance or salesmanship, his opponent would be able to identify the route early and close off any separation. But Williams stems these routes outside with his eyes pointed directly downfield. His body language for the first ten yards sells the defender that he’s running a deep corner. By the time he reaches the top of the route, the defender is forced to open his hips to the sideline because Williams hasn’t done anything to telegraph his route. He then sticks the landing with a rocker step and breaks in the opposite direction:
OTHER
Kyle Williams is also very effective after the catch and quickly transitions from receiver to runner. In 2024 he ranked fourth among FBS receivers with 590 yards after the catch. His 8.4 YAC per reception ranked eighth among receivers with at least 50 targets. Williams also forced 21 missed tackles and led the FBS with three screen touchdowns.
He has reliable hands and very good ball tracking skills and focus at the catch point. In his first three seasons Williams had a 10.0% drop rate, but he lowered that to 5.8% in his last two years at Washington State.
Williams has a complete skillset and checks every box other than size. He can run the full route tree and has the versatility to play X, Z, or slot at the next level. I have Williams as a top-50 player in this class and I’d be surprised if he wasn’t a second round pick in April.
