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Even with the NFL draft a month away, it is never to early to start looking at some of the many prospects that will be future NFL players. There will be more comprehensive profiles completed, and Big Boards assembled as the draft draws closer, especially after the offseason All Star events and NFL Combine are completed, and more tape is studied. However, this preview series will give a brief view at this point to some of the popular players we will hear about as potential first or second round picks in April, and if they could be a fit for the Los Angeles Chargers.
Mykel Williams is a prime example of the age-old question in scouting and player evaluation as to what should be valued more, traits or production? There are flashes in his game where the top of the draft talent is evident, but there are long periods of games where he disappears. Any front office that selects him in April will be holding one of the true lottery tickets in this draft.
The key to Williams’ game is monster power and athleticism off the edge. He does a fantastic job of controlling the LOS and setting a hard edge to the defense. The power in his game is on full display when he plays with leverage and length as he stacks and sheds blocks. When he is really on his game, he showcases his speed to power with a devastating bull rush that can collapse the edge or the pocket when aligned closer inside. His power translates both as a stand-up rusher or with his hand in the dirt which makes him scheme diverse at the next level. Like most of the top defenders in this class he has a fantastic motor and shows great lateral agility and awareness to make plays from backside pursuits or being able to crash and flow down the line to make tackles. Pairing his athleticism with awareness makes him a solid edge run defender immediately as he is rarely out of position by over pursuit. When he puts it all together, he projects as a high first round pick in any draft class.
The reliance on power and awareness leads him to be late off the LOS. Once that happens, he must rely on power to win the rep. He needs to develop some counters to pure power, and it could start with his hands. They are very heavy and used more for his punch and stabs rather than using them in chops or club overs to diversify his rush plan. For a lack of a better term his rushes are dull with very little creativity or nuance. It is usually recognition off the snap, followed by a power-based rush where he wins with pure athleticism and talent rather than skill or guile. However, when he faces linemen that can handle power, he has very little to counter with. This is why he is so frustrating to watch. He has periods where he excels at the highest level of competition based mostly on pure talent without incorporating much technical refinement, and other stretches where he is JAG on the field.
Williams is the definition of a boom or bust prospect. If he was able to harness his natural abilities and add some technique and refinement to his game, he could flourish. But even with his immense physical talent shouldn’t there have been more production? Why does he disappear for long stretches in games? Shouldn’t he have acquired some level of refinement at Georgia? Even though he has shown the ability to translate his power from both a stand up or down alignment, I would play him hand down either as a 4-3 DE or as a 3-4 base end where he can maximize his power and edge setting while hopefully developing his pass rush game. I do not think you can draft him with the idea to pencil him in as a pure pass rush element to the defense. At this point his comp is Travon Walker. Another Georgia product who was dripping with tools and talent but had very little production in college and has yet to back up his first pick of the draft status. Even with these flaws, teams will salivate over his potential, and it would be a shock if he ever slipped out of round one.
IMO, Williams would not be the best fit for this defense. He is a low production, raw athletic freak with power. He really needs to be coached up at the NFL level to maximize his immense gifts and be schemed properly to succeed. Unless the player is a generational athlete, like Miles Garrett or Von Miller, I tend to value production in spades over traits. There is a chance that Williams takes the next step and continues to develop in the NFL to become a premier Edge, but I am not willing to make that leap. It is a stretch for me to think he was not coached well under Kirby Smart already. If he were selected by the Chargers I wouldn’t love it, but I would understand the thought process of getting a high-level power athlete into the building and molding him into a complete NFL Edge, especially under the tutelage of Mack and Dupree.
I watched both the SEC Championship and Sugar Bowl live and on tape replay. I also cross watched a taped replay of the Ole Miss game when I was studying Harris. I will have to watch that one again for Nolen and Amos. I tried to get a mix of his best and worst games to see if what I saw was consistent in both. He is pretty much the same player every game. When his stuff works, he pops. When it doesn’t, he’s a high energy role player. Is that worth round one consideration?
@evolz3737 Did you watch any 2023 tape, considering the injury he played with throughout 2024, to get a feeling of how much it impacted his game?
@bolt_dk I did not. Every college football season I DVR a bunch of games, mostly the big schools from the power 5 or a game from a MAAC school or lower D1 that has an NFL prospect or two (Marshall, Toledo, Bowling Green etc,) that I watch back throughout the fall and winter when I start getting an idea of the serious top 100 or so prospects. It’s probably around 50-60 games. This also helps having guys on tape that start becoming later round prospects after the Senior Bowl and combine like CJ West, TJ Sanders, Jordan Burch, DJ Giddens etc.. I also subscribe to Caddy’s Cut Ups which gives you All 22 clips from a database of prospects. I know, I’m a sick draft geek. The cut ups include multiple seasons of tape, so I’m sure I saw some 2023 clips. I just didn’t have any 2023 games saved on my DVR.
@evolz3737 You might enjoy this google sheet for this year in that case. The one I’ve got for 2023 is prospect related and not game so its more awkward to go through.
@duck07 Wow. This is fantastic. Thank you. This will make it easier to track the games. Especially with cross tape.
@evolz3737 That’s quite a workload you’ve got. I’d be interested to see if you would chnge you evaluation of Williams if you watched any 2023 games where he was healthier.
@bolt_dk It can get pretty monotonous, which is why I love the cross tape games where I can watch multiple players on both sides of the ball. Kind of like one stop shopping for a few evaluations. For the one prospect games, they go pretty fast with the fast forwarding of just their reps. Caddys makes it easy to as you can just type a player in and if they have him you can catch a bunch of singled out reps from the All 22 which are more concentrated than the TV footage. I really enjoy watching the tape and making evaluations. I spent 2 years in college doing that after I got injured, so it’s ingrained in me already somewhat. I learned the old school way of watching for certain techniques or tendencies. I never did any real data analytics that they use now on prospects so my profile pieces are more meat and potatoes that fans can see on tape as well. These days I’m sure you can get into the weeds with all the data.
@evolz3737 I completely get that! Seems like a good way to do it. Maybe my messeage came across wrong, but I didn’t intent to burden your load. I was only curious if you evaluation was from ’24 tape only or from ’23 and ’24. Please only look it at if you find it worth your time 😊
@bolt_dk Not at all. I didn’t even think about last years tape as a reference. Thanks.
@bolt_dk As far as Williams specifically I will look again to see if I can determine which seasons clips are from 23′ vs 24′.
Posting my notes on Mykel to complement Erick’s:
- Versatile (classic Georgia) Defensive Lineman with incredibly long arms
- Played from 3T (rare) to 5T (more common). Used on games. Most snaps come outside the tackle as a 3-4 standup Edge. Playing at so many spots along the line might have helped the team but probably didn’t help Mykel to settle and refine his skills.
- Did a lot of the ‘dirty work’ for Georgia that Jalon Walker (#11) wasn’t asked to do.
- Best games came watching his 2023 tape (v Missouri especially) which is consistent with Dan Jeremiah’s claim that he played through an ankle injury in 2024 (Williams claimed he played the entire season at less than 60%). But the Alabama and Clemson games I watched were Wks 1-2 before his Wk 3 injury v Auburn. So no excuse.
- As a pass rusher:
- Tall lighter-framed player with extremely long arms. Fast twitch is noticeable but is too upright in his get-off.
- Hand placement is on point. Uses a double handed swipe move and can turn the corner as a fluid athlete. Evidence of a swim/inside counter/push-pull on tape.
- Not enough impact plays on film. A lot of ‘close, but no cigar’ moments with only 14 career sacks from 40 games. Flashes skills but hasn’t put it all together.
- Lacks the strength to fight through blocks, counter or convert speed to power.
- When initial move is stymied he’s in trouble. Struggled v Florida’s Right Tackle (Day 3 prospect). Some shades of Leonard Floyd in his play.
- Showed that he can drop into coverage well. Rangy movements skills. Eye discipline and general awareness are strong.
- As a run defender:
- May struggle initially as technique needs refinement (leans in with shoulder rather than consistently extending arms at the point of attack).
- Flashes of individual brilliance when he gets it right. Escaped Armand Membou’s clutch on an outside run and made a leaping chase down tackle v Missorui.
- Long arms really help this area of his game.
- When the QB climbs and escapes through the front of the pocket, Mykel Wiliams is the Edge you want chasing him down.
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