Williams started at tackle for Cincinnati the last two seasons, but might be a pro guard.
If your first instinct when you heard that the Packers had invited John Williams in for a pre-draft visit was to make a Star Wars joke, you’re not alone. Several of the more science fiction-oriented among us in the Acme Packing Company Slack had similar reactions.
I’m delighted to inform you, then, that Cincinnati’s John Williams, in addition to being an interesting offensive line prospect, is also an aerospace engineering major. Calling him “Star Wars” Williams would be entirely appropriate. He’s allowed to say “well, it’s not rocket science” about literally anything a pro team throws at him. He’d know.
Currently number 246 on the NFL Mock Draft Database consensus big board, Williams looks like a day three prospect or undrafted free agent. But there are plenty of gems to find in that territory. Packers fans should know that better than most.
A two-year starter for Cincinnati, Williams hits the Packers’ thresholds with his 10-yard split in the 40-yard dash (1.79 seconds; typically the Packers want guys to run under 1.8) and with his short shuttle time (4.72 seconds against a historic threshold of 4.82). At 6-foot-4 and 322 pounds, Williams offers a nice blend of athleticism and size that could work at both guard or tackle, though with arm length only in the 61st percentile for offensive linemen, he might be a better fit inside. He’s plenty strong, wherever he lines up. Though bench press isn’t the best indication of playing strength, 29 reps on the bench is nothing to sneeze at.
Can he play, though? That’s where people are a little less certain. He’s the 25th-ranked offensive lineman in Dane Brugler’s “The Beast,” and his NFL.com scouting report profiles him as a low-roster or practice squad candidate. Why? Most scouts are concerned about his hand use (“Prone to catching with those big mitts” says Brugler, while Lance Zerlein writes that his “Lethargic hands fail to pop and latch into targets) and aggression. And for someone with more prototypical guard size, he doesn’t have an interior offensive line background at all: in four seasons at Cincinnati, he never took a rep at any of the three interior line positions.
Still, as far as developmental prospects go, Williams is an interesting ball of clay. Given the Packers propensity for developing linemen — especially college tackles that turn into pro guards — it’s probably worth keeping him on your radar as an undrafted free agent.