2013 NFL Draft Profile: Brandon Williams (DT – Missouri Southern)

Chief Concerns: Desmond Bailey

Prospect Name: Brandon Williams
School: Missouri Southern
Pos: DT
Year: Senior
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 341
Projected Round: Early 3rd – Late 4th

Overview

• Three-Time All-American  (2010-’12)
• MIAA Defensive Player of the Year (2012)
• Holds all-time school sack record with 27 in his career
• 191 career tackles with 52.5 tackles for loss and 6 forced fumbles (2008, 2010-’12)

Strengths

• Explosive off the ball…outstanding snap anticipation
• Excellent use of hands…possesses a nice repertoire of pass rush moves
• Built low and powerful…stout…consistently uses good leverage
• Tremendous closing speed and quickness…it’s curtains for the QB once Williams locks on
• Hustles even when the play is beyond him…gives 110% on every snap
• Often requires double teams….difficult to block 1-on-1
• Great intangibles…top notch work ethic and impressive overall character

Weaknesses

• Level of competition was underwhelming at best
• Technique gets sloppy at times ( due maybe to fatigue?)
• Lacks consistent feel for running game…
• Inconsistent balance …gets washed out of run plays too often
• Maybe relies too often on finesse to beat blockers…would like to see him be more of a bully at times

Final Thoughts

For a very big man, he has surprising explosiveness and agility. He also has some impressive straight-line speed. He is a natural pass rusher with the ability to consistently embarrass offensive linemen with his arsenal of moves and quick hands. I’m not a fan of the competition he faced at the Div-II level. However, he more than held his own down in mobile during Senior Bowl week.

My main concern with Williams is his instincts against the running game. He’s shown he can be very disruptive as a one-gap tackle in Missouri Southern’s 4-3. He gets off the ball well and into the backfield in a flash. The problems arise when he’s played some two-gap and isn’t able to beat OL with that initial move and has to use his strength to anchor and drive OL off the line of scrimmage. He didn’t demonstrate the ability on film to do this consistently. But he got some good individual coaching at the Senior Bowl where he worked on this and displayed both significant improvement and that he’s very coachable.

Physically, Williams is a freak – that 341 pounds is solid and equipped with rare strength and athletic ability. But arguably, the most impressive thing about Williams are his intangibles. He’s simply a great kid. During his collegiate academic and football career, he held down a full-time summer job cleaning Port-a-Potties eight hours a day to help support his family. This speaks volumes about his work ethic and humility.

I would love for the Chiefs to take a strong look at Williams as a potential day-2 selection. He reminds me a lot of Chiefs NT Dontari Poe. However Williams, while maybe not as brutishly strong as Poe, is arguably more agile and is a FAR more polished pass rusher at this stage than Poe was as a prospect. Williams would provide the Chiefs with some outstanding depth along that defensive line and compliment Poe well at the Nose Tackle position. Let’s hope he ends up in KC because he could thrive in the Chiefs’ more aggressive, attack-style 3-4 defense under defensive coordinator Bob Sutton in 2013.