{"id":85876,"date":"2020-04-18T21:54:10","date_gmt":"2020-04-19T01:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/?p=85876"},"modified":"2020-04-18T21:54:10","modified_gmt":"2020-04-19T01:54:10","slug":"raequan-williams-2020-nfl-draft-profile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2020\/04\/18\/raequan-williams-2020-nfl-draft-profile\/","title":{"rendered":"Raequan Williams 2020 NFL Draft Profile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Raequan Williams Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Position<\/strong>: Interior Defensive Line<br \/>\n<strong>Height: <\/strong>6\u2019-3\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Weight:<\/strong> 344 pounds<br \/>\n<strong>School: <\/strong>Michigan<\/p>\n<p><strong>NFL Combine Performance Data<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>40 Yard Dash: <\/strong>5.04 (unofficial)<strong><br \/>\nBench Press:<\/strong> 17 reps<br \/>\n<strong>Vertical Jump: <\/strong>25.5\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>Broad Jump: <\/strong>101.0\u201d<br \/>\n<strong>3 Cone Drill: <\/strong>7.72 seconds<br \/>\n<strong>20 Yard Shuttle: <\/strong>4.78 seconds<\/p>\n<h2>Raequan Williams 2020 NFL Draft Profile<\/h2>\n<p>After spending the entirety of his collegiate career at Michigan State, defensive lineman <strong>Raequan Williams<\/strong> is looking to bring his game to the professional level in the 2020 NFL Draft. The 6\u2019-4\u201d, 308-pound interior lineman is coming off arguably the best season of his career. Appearing in 604 snaps, Williams ended his season with 20 run stops, seven sacks, five quarterback hits, and 22 hurries.<\/p>\n<p>Williams initially entered the collegiate ranks as a four-star recruit. An Illinois native, Williams eventually chose Michigan State despite heavy pursuit from Iowa. After redshirting in 2015 and spending most of 2016 on the bench, Williams finally earned a starting job in 2017. Playing in 548 snaps, the defensive lineman recorded 11 run stops, three sacks, eight quarterback hits, and 16 hurries. He was even better the following season, recording 19 stops, two sacks, six hits, and 15 hurries.<\/p>\n<h3>Strengths<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Positional versatility to play all along the defensive line;<\/li>\n<li>Holds his own in one-on-one matchups in the trenches;<\/li>\n<li>Advanced knowledge of hand usage to keep offensive linemen from engaging;<\/li>\n<li>49<sup>th<\/sup> percentile arm length among defensive linemen;<\/li>\n<li>Clearly added some tools to his pass-rusher repertoire in 2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Weaknesses<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Below-average athlete across the board;<\/li>\n<li>Underwhelming bend \u2013 rather rigid as a rusher;<\/li>\n<li>Struggles to consistently hold his ground against double teams;<\/li>\n<li>Doesn\u2019t project as a pass rusher at the next level;<\/li>\n<li>Plays a little high and can sacrifice leverage;<\/li>\n<li>Slow reaction time off the snap.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>NFL Comparison: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pro-football-reference.com\/players\/L\/LoveKy00.htm?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Love<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Teams With Need at Position: <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/panthers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carolina Panthers<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/bengals\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/jaguars\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/raiders\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/chargers\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/dolphins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Miami Dolphins<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprofootball.com\/nfl-teams\/redskins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Washington Redskins<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Projection: <\/strong>7<sup>th<\/sup> Round\/Priority UDFA<\/p>\n<h3>Bottom Line on Raequan Williams<\/h3>\n<p>Raequan Williams could have been a solid football player in a different era of football. The defensive lineman is probably at his best in a run-stuffing 3-4 defense, but that role doesn\u2019t exist in today\u2019s pass-happy NFL. Williams has the ability to line up all along the defensive line, but it\u2019s hard to imagine him playing any singular position at an NFL level. He\u2019s not very athletic, and studies show that athleticism matters when evaluating defensive linemen.<\/p>\n<p>Players can get by without elite athleticism at defensive line, but they need to be nearly perfect at everything else. Right now, Raequan Williams doesn\u2019t fit that description. While he possesses great hand work, he doesn\u2019t have that much bend on his rushes and plays a little too high. Additionally, he\u2019s slow off the snap and doesn\u2019t have the strength to consistently hold up to double teams. Williams added some pass-rushing moves in 2019, but he\u2019s never going to be a consistent threat as a pass rusher. Chances are, Williams will earn the right to compete for a roster spot, but he\u2019ll probably start his career on a practice squad.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo:<br \/>\n<a id=\"Eh2Z4IKPTOBUdf7dVggd-w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1209626310\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Eh2Z4IKPTOBUdf7dVggd-w',sig:'sRXrMbJmqsoCT7nwWMP7bZqk_Uu7www0haIfi3sXolY=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1209626310',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After spending his entire collegiate tenure at Michigan State, defensive lineman Raequan Williams hopes to continue his career in the 2020 NFL Draft<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2376,"featured_media":85878,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1647],"tags":[5273,61,40,6279],"class_list":["post-85876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-draft","tag-2020-nfl-draft","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-raequan-williams"],"modified_by":"David Latham, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}