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TRENT WILLIAMS
6-5/315
Oklahoma Senior

PROS: Shows nice footwork and ability to mirror speed rushers. Has a good mean streak and will throw defender to the ground. Finishes his blocks and does a nice job initiating contact in pass protection. Shows a nice hand punch at times and does a good job getting his hands up. Does a fairly decent job adjusting in space. Has nice pop off the snap as a run blocker and shows potential as a drive blocker. Athletic, and does a nice job on the second level and blocking out in front of screens. Has good versatility, showing capable snapping ability and tools when working at center.
CONS: Needs to add more strength as he doesn't have the ability to really push the pile consistently. Footwork and technique can get a little sloppy at times. Will open up his stance too early or too wide, opening himself up for the quick, inside move. Needs to stay square longer. Had some trouble adjusting to stunt in space when he lined up inside.
OVERVIEW: I must admit I didn't get to see a lot of Williams play this year at left tackle, and most of what I"ve seen of him was him at right tackle last year and center in the bowl game. But he's a good, versatile player that for the most part does the same things well (and poorly) at each position. Had 38 career starts at Oklahoma, with 12 coming at left tackle, 1 at center, and 25 at right tackle. Right tackle is probably his best NFL position, but he can potentially play and succeed at all five.
NFL FORECAST: Williams has the ability to play left tackle at the next level with his athleticism and toughness, but he could struggle a little bit. At least a little bit more there than at right tackle. But I think he can be a capable left tackle for some team. I think the best case for him is to pull a Jammal Brown, start him at right tackle right away, and then move him to the left side after his first season or so. But the beauty of WIlliams is that even if he doesn't shine at either tackle position, you can always move him inside. He didn't play much guard at Oklahoma, although he did play there in high school. He can also play center, although he's a work in progress there. But I give him credit for adapting fairly quickly and well to that position for the bowl game this past year. He didn't get the entire month to prepare, and I imagine if he was given an entire spring/summer to learn that position, he could be very good there. That type of versatility saved the careers of players like Leonard Davis and Robert Gallery, who have turned into productive starters once they were moved inside. I don't think Williams will struggle at tackle like those two players will, but I do think he may have some growing pains.
ATL FORECAST: Williams is a good fit in Atlanta because they will like his versatility and mean streak. While he can play left tackle and might be a better run blocker than Baker, at this point, one wouldn't expect him to be an immediate upgrade in pass protection. His best hope in Atlanta is starting out at right tackle and pushing Clabo. If he won that battle, and he could because of his superior athleticism, it coudl have a nice domino effect allowing the team to upgrade over Blalock as well at left guard. But the team could also decide to start Williams off at guard, having him push Blalock right away. It'll be a transition, but I think he could do it. Also Williams offers the versatility that down the road they could tap him to be the heir apparent to McClure. He offers good run blocking potential from the pivot position, although despite his size, he still hasn't shown that he's great when he has a guy lined up over him. But he can be coached up. Regardless, Williams would become a starter for the Falcons at one of the five positions and be a fixture for years to come.
VALUE: Williams purely as a tackle prospect is probably a mid-to-late first rounder. But his versatility to play any position on the line bumps him up so that he merits a Top 15 pick because you're going to get a capable starter, even if it's not the bookend left tackle teams envision.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

STRENGTH: 3.5
PASS BLOCKING: 4.0
RUN BLOCKING: 4.0
FOOTWORK: 4.0
TECHNIQUE: 3.5
MOBILITY: 4.0
MEAN STREAK: 4.0

Pros: Impressive size, strength and arm length. Pretty good out of his stance and has a pretty good kick slide to mirror speed rushers. Does a good job with hand placement as a run blocker and as a pass protector, and will regularly take his man out of the play once he gets his hands on you. He sustains his blocks well and blocks through the whistle, and shows a bit of a mean streak and will throw his man to the ground. Shows good mobility and has good athleticism for the position, and shows that he can get to the second level to engage a linebacker on a run play.

Cons: He doesn’t quite have the lateral agility to mirror elite speed rushers, and struggled a lot with really athletic guys with good edge speed as a senior when he played left tackle. And because he doesn’t have the ability to mirror good speed rushers he will open his hips up too early and not stay square to the line of scrimmage long enough to take away the inside move. Sam Bradford actually got injured on a play where he opened his hips up early to pick up an outside blitzer and another defender beat him to the inside and sacked him.

Overall: I think Trent Williams has All-Pro potential as a right tackle in the NFL, but only the potential to be a solid left tackle. Ideally he would be drafted to play right tackle and would be a great player there but could fill in at left tackle should an injury occur to the regular starter. However many teams seem to think that his combination of size and athleticism means he will be a good left tackle in the NFL. This just doesn’t seem to be the case in my opinion, and I think that is pretty obvious judging by how much he struggled with speed rushers this year and how susceptible he is to inside moves when he is too worried about taking away that speed rush. If he were drafted to play RT he could continue to add strength to develop into a very good drive blocker, he would not face as many good speed rushers as he would at LT and would be more effective handling less stellar pass rushers that play LE because of his ability to get his hands on slower pass rushers and neutralize them if they try to bull rush or speed rush. That is why I think he has All-Pro potential at RT, but if a team drafts him really early and expects him to play LT they will be disappointed. But I don’t know how teams could feel that way if they watched tape of him.

Projection: Top 10: I can’t really imagine him making it past Seattle and Buffalo to make it out of the top 10. If he does he won’t last any longer than #13 where San Francisco would very likely pick him up.

SKILLS
1-poor, 2-weak, 3-above average, 4-very good, 5-elite

STRENGTH: 4.0
PASS BLOCKING: 4.0
RUN BLOCKING: 4.0
FOOTWORK: 4.0
TECHNIQUE: 4.0
MOBILITY: 4.0
MEAN STREAK: 4.0