“I didn’t think I’d be up here talking about taking two receivers.”

Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst did not anticipate drafting Savion Williams in round three after taking Matthew Golden in round one, but the TCU receiver was the best player on his board when the Packers were on the clock at No. 87 overall.

Williams is a fascinating, enticing player, but what can he bring to Green Bay?

At just over 6-3 ⅔” and 222 pounds, he has a pretty unique body type for a receiver, and even rarer speed for someone of his massive size. Williams ran a 4.48 in the 40 at the combine, with a 1.53 10-yard split, which ranks in the 90th percentile.

According to Matt LaFleur, Williams ran that time with only three weeks of training due to having an injury, and he looks even faster on tape than his 40 time.

As a pure receiver, Williams is rough around the edges, but there is more than enough to encourage the Packers he can be a legitimate NFL receiver rather than just a gadget player, as he was often used in college.

Starting from the snap, Williams has quick feet and shows he can win with his release at the line, setting up the corner with a hard outside or inside step, then having the burst to go the other way.

He consistently gets himself where he wants to be in relation to his opponent within the first few steps, and with his size, this should theoretically help him be available to the quarterback, especially when he releases inside and can box out defenders.

Due to his imposing frame, it is hard to have success pressing Williams off the line, he can simply shrug it off and keep going.

Disrupting him with contact on the route is going to be tough for corners to do, and he should be able to work in crowded areas as a result. Williams can use physicality to his advantage and separate at the top of his route.

Both Gutekunst and LaFleur referenced lack of polish as a route runner, partially due to how he has utilized at TCU, but there is also a lot to like about the potential Williams has as a traditional receiver.

He is a twitchy and explosive player, and this shows in his routes. Williams has the suddenness to get himself open even in tight areas, snap corners off to create separation and break down efficiently to stop routes underneath.

His ability to gear down and back up again in a hurry should work to his advantage and could be seen on double moves when he was given the chance to run those kinds of routes. Considering his unique role, his route tree is not underdeveloped, which is a pleasant surprise.

There is a visible understanding of how to set opponents up and attack their leverage. He can use head fakes to manipulate defenders and has a nice knack of running in second gear, then turning on the jets to either get beyond defenders or get them to back off in order to gain separation underneath.

Williams does well on out routes because he does not tip them early. He runs at seemingly half speed, then just puts his inside foot in the ground and gets horizontal quickly. It could be an easy way to get the ball in his hands with YAC opportunities at the next level.

Much has been made, rightly, of Williams’ problematic hands, but he can make concentration catches with a linebacker jumping in front of him, causing him to see it late, adjusting to slant passes on his back hip, or scooping low balls off his shoelaces.

He has excellent body control and can make circus catches, skying above multiple defenders and boxing out in the end zone to pluck the ball out of the sky, or twisting his body to haul in a pass way behind him for a score. Williams has caught 78.8% of his contested targets since 2022.

Then there is the versatility element of Williams’ game. At TCU he was used all over the field, not just outside and in the slot, but lined up in the backfield as a running back or even as a wildcat quarterback.

He had success motioning from the backfield and running seam routes to get wide open behind linebackers and was a true weapon with the ball in his hands either via jet sweeps or as a wildcat. As a former high school quarterback, he also threw multiple passes on trick plays.

When asked what the first thing that stood out to him about Williams, Gutekunst said: “His ability with the ball in his hands. His determination, his elusiveness, his power, his ability to break tackles.” It’s easy to see why.

Williams is electric with the ball. His speed really shows up in the open field and he has a great feel for finding daylight and following blocks. He is an extremely physical runner with great contact balance, evidenced by his 18 missed tackles forced in 2024.

Crucially for a big guy, he can get hit low and still find a way to stay up. Williams can stiff arm or truck defenders. He can catch a slant pass on his back hip and still carry defenders for five plus yards from there.

He had a tremendous touchdown run as a wildcat quarterback where he picked his way through a crowd then hit a spin move at the second level to leave a defender grabbing thin air, before taking it to the house. Williams should be a real weapon on any kind of screen.

Williams had a 90.5 PFF rushing grade in 2024 and also ranked 55th in the FBS for yards after catch per reception.

Talking about the impact Williams can have with the ball, LaFleur said: “He’s so big, so powerful, so explosive. Guys have a tendency to bounce off him”.

With 12 touchdowns from scrimmage in 2024, Williams showed himself to be a real weapon in the red zone.

He has return ability, although he has not done it since 2020. There is evidence of successful blocking on tape whereby he seals an alley on a run play or walls off a defender to the sideline in the open field.

On the negative side, there are not as many as I had expected given the discourse around Williams, but there is one potentially crippling issue which Packers fans are all too familiar with: drops.

He dropped 10.4% of his career targets in college and had eight last year. His 2023 season was more promising, with a drop rate of only 4.7%, but there is no question Williams has to work on making the easy catches more routinely.

One of the worst examples was on a short route after initially doing well to work himself open, Williams turned back towards the quarterback, the pass hit him in the hands and after initially grabbing it he somehow threw the ball up into the air, and it could have been intercepted.

Drops are correctable, and in general overrated, but it is hard to ignore Williams’ at times comical ones, and it is hard to get the ball if your quarterback does not trust you’ll catch it.

Part of the drop issue could be concentration, and there are instances on tape where he lacks awareness. Williams caused his quarterback to throw an interception because he did not get his head around early enough on a seam route, allowing a defender to drive on the ball uncontested.

To Gutekunst and LaFleur’s points about his lack of polish, Williams’ routes are uneven, either looking jittery and unnatural or too loose at different times. It does not actually hurt his ability to play the position in a major way, but it is not very visually appealing.

While he is big, twitchy and explosive, Williams is unsurprisingly not an especially nimble player, and changing direction on a dime is not going to be his strong suit. This naturally will have an impact on which routes he can run well and which he cannot.

Despite Williams’ size and speed, he has not been used as much of a deep threat in his college career.

He ranked 389th of 405 qualified receivers in average depth of target in 2024, although part of this is due to the offense, which did not stretch the field much in general. With second-round pick Jack Bech on the other side, TCU’s quarterback ranked 123rd of 156 qualified QBs in ADOT.

While Williams had over 900 yards from scrimmage in 2024, he only had 611 receiving yards, which was his career high. He does not have a track record of production as a true receiver, and his average PFF receiving grade of 71.9 over the last two years is nothing special.

Arguably the most disappointing part of Williams’ game is his run blocking, especially for a player of his size. He has not had a PFF run block grade of above 58 in the last three years.

Sometimes he seems surprised he has been called into action, or shows a lack of effort to engage with his target. In general, there are too many occasions where he fails to get hands on an opponent or lets them slip away easily.

The worst example was when he was the key block on a wide receiver screen and completely whiffed, meaning the play was dead on arrival. He should be a weapon as a blocker, and LaFleur will try to bring it out of him, but right now he is more often a liability than an asset.

He will turn 24 during his rookie year, and one would expect his game to be more polished overall for such an experienced player.

Overall, there is much more potential to Williams’ game than just a gadget player. His unique size and athleticism, as well as some of the raw tools he shows as a true receiver mean there is a legitimately high ceiling which could be hit, whether he does it is another question.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers draft pick profiles: Savion Williams more than a gadget player