Was it a Reach?: Tyleik Williams

Was it a Reach

Many years ago, I created Why the Slide and Why Undrafted in response to questions about why certain well-known prospects were selected lower or not drafted at all in the NFL Draft. This year, I thought to expand to see if a player was a reach. The answer to whether a player was a reach is as simple as the player was valued at that spot by the team that drafted him. However, other teams may not agree with that grade, so I thought I would check if certain players were actual reaches in the NFL Draft.

For these articles, I reach out to sources with NFL teams to find out where their teams valued this player. The positive response to “Why Undrafted” and questions from readers about why prospects were drafted lower than the media’s expectations led us to create the parallel series “Why the Slide?” and now, “Was it a Reach?”

Both series are back this year. Feel free to email me requests for Why the Slide? and Why Undrafted? at [email protected]. I can’t promise to get to all of them, but I will do my best and definitely will respond to the email.

In my mock draft update for March 17th, I had the Detroit Lions taking Tyleik Williams in the first round of my mock draft. While many in the media were sleeping on Williams as a prospect, I heard from a number of team sources that really liked Williams. I thought he could be on the bubble of the first and second round. Williams flashed interior rush ability in 2021 when he put up five sacks and 16 tackles for the Buckeyes. In 2023, he played solid football while recording 54 tackles, three sacks and five passes defended. Williams had a number of impressive plays against Notre Dame, getting the better of left tackle Joe Alt. Williams could have been a day-two pick, but he returned to Ohio State for his senior season. In 2024, Williams had 46 tackles with 2.5 sacks in helping the Buckeyes win a National Championship. On top of a good college career, sources said Williams was a high character individual and an asset in the locker room. I moved Williams down slightly in mock drafts to come, but come draft day Williams ended up going to the Lions with their first-round pick.

In speaking to sources at other teams, they felt Williams was not a significant reach. They felt that, at most, he was a slight reach, and some teams picking high in the second round were targeting him. Thus, if the Williams had passed on Williams, he likely would have gone soon after.

With the Lions, Williams is a great scheme fit. In my scouting report I comped Williams to Detroit Pro Bowl defensive tackle Alim McNeil and they look like carbon copies. McNeil is rehabbing a torn ACL, so Williams can start immediately next to veteran nose tackle D.J. Reader. When McNeil returns, they can rotate the trio to keep them fresh. Reader is a free agent after this season, so Williams should step in as the long-term starter next to McNeil. If Williams ends up being as good as McNeil has become, taking him with the 28th pick in the draft will be a good value for Detroit.