Kyle
Williams.
Kyle
Williams.
Washington State· 5'11"· 190 lb· 4.40s 40
"Williams brings legitimate 4.40 speed and a career full of production, but his slight frame and minimal contested-catch reps against lower-level competition raise questions about his pro viability."Pre-draft read
Perimeter Z receiver who plays with the ball on a string down the field. The primary trait is speed that shows up on tape rather than just on the stopwatch — he closes cushion in a hurry, gets on top of corners without a wasted stem and tracks the deep ball over either shoulder with real body control.
The second layer is what he does with grass in front of him. He is a threat on screens, jet motion and manufactured touches because the first step is sudden and he does not need much room to hit top gear. Blocking effort is willing but light at 190 pounds, and he is not a contested-catch answer in the red zone. The signature is simple: he changes the safety's alignment the moment he steps on the field.
Play-action and shot-heavy offense that pairs a downfield thrower with defined vertical concepts — go, post and deep over off boot and hard run fakes.
Year 1: designed-shot WR3 and return contributor who forces two-high looks. Ceiling: a true WR2 whose vertical threat opens the intermediate game for everyone else.
A dink-and-dunk timing offense that lives on quick game and slants, where his catch radius and lack of contested-catch ability leave him a bit player.
He needs a quarterback willing to throw him open downfield; his value collapses in an offense that never takes shots.
Kyle Williams | Wide Receiver | Full 2024 Washington State Highlights
Complete cutup of the 1,198-yard, 14-touchdown senior season.
Kyle Williams College Highlights, Washington State WR
Career reel showing his deep-ball tracking and separation speed.
Kyle Williams 2023-24 Washington State Top Plays
Two-year Washington State top plays, including the Holiday Bowl long touchdown.
Williams is a speed merchant with a real receiver's feel, not just a track athlete lined up wide. Five college seasons — three at UNLV, two at Washington State — produced a steady climb rather than a single fluke year, and the route running got noticeably cleaner every stop.
The senior tape is what got him drafted. In 2024 he caught 70 balls for 1,198 yards and 14 touchdowns in 13 games at 17.1 yards a catch, adding 57 rushing yards on nine carries as Washington State manufactured touches for him. That capped a 50-game career line of 248 receptions, 3,609 yards and 29 scores. He backed the speed up in Indianapolis with a 4.40 forty and a 36.5-inch vertical at 5-11, 190. The flags were the frame and the profile: a slight build, minimal contested-catch production, and a rep sample built against Mountain West and a scattered post-Pac-12 Washington State schedule.
Most boards had him in the third-round range as a WR3 with a defined vertical role and return value, with the disagreement centered on whether he was a starter or a specialist. New England, rebuilding a thin receiver room around Drake Maye, took him at 69 to give the offense a genuine field-stretcher.
- 01
Deep speed
a 4.40 forty that plays on tape, eating cushion quickly and forcing corners to bail out of press before the snap.
- 02
Ball tracking
locates and adjusts to the deep ball over either shoulder without breaking stride, a skill that turns shots into scores.
- 03
Yards after catch
sudden first step and immediate acceleration make him dangerous on screens, jet sweeps and manufactured touches.
- 04
Production trend
improved every season across two programs, peaking with 70 catches for 1,198 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior.
- 05
Return value
kick-return experience and straight-line burst give him a special teams path to snaps while the route tree expands.
- 01
Frame
5-11, 190 pounds with a slight build, which limits him against physical press corners and in traffic over the middle.
- 02
Contested catch
very little production winning above the rim, so his catch radius shrinks when the throw is not on time.
- 03
Level of competition
the sample is mostly Mountain West and a disrupted Washington State schedule rather than weekly Power Four corners.
- 04
Blocking
willing on the perimeter but easily displaced, which caps his snaps in heavy run personnel packages.
Relative Athletic Score (Kent Lee Platte) benchmarks combine/pro-day numbers against every measured prospect at the position since 1987. 10.00 is elite; 5.00 is average.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.40sp50
- Vertical
- 36.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 119inp50
- Three-cone
- —s
- Shuttle
- —s
- Bench
- —rep
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | UNLV | 6 | 35 | 426 | 2 |
| 2021 | UNLV | 10 | 42 | 601 | 2 |
| 2022 | UNLV | 9 | 40 | 541 | 5 |
| 2023 | Washington State | 12 | 61 | 842 | 6 |
| 2024 | Washington State | 13 | 70 | 1193 | 14 |
| Career | — | 50 | 248 | 3603 | 29 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
- John MateerQB25%
- Zevi EckhausQB21%
- Kris HutsonWR7%
#3 of 19 tracked contributors · Produced in line with his snap share · Offense explosiveness 1.35 (p85) · CFBD — usage x PPA per tracked player
Low-volume, high-average field stretcher whose value is in the coverage he moves rather than the receptions he piles up.
Undersized vertical burner who developed into a legitimate 1,000-yard starter without ever winning contested.
Fast, light receiver whose limited route tree and frame keep him a special teams and gadget piece.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
New England used him almost exactly as advertised and no more. Williams played all 17 games as a rookie in 2025 but stayed a situational piece in a crowded rebuild, finishing with 10 catches for 209 yards and three touchdowns on just 17 targets, plus 11 kick returns for 290 yards. The receiving line is tiny, but the shape of it is the point: 20.9 yards per catch, a 72-yard score and seven first downs on 10 receptions. When the ball came his way, it was almost always a chunk play, and he grew visible chemistry with Drake Maye on shot plays as the season went on.
The honest read after one year is that the vertical role translated and the target volume never arrived. That is partly roster context — New England added veterans in front of him — and partly the pre-draft flag: he is not the guy you feed on third-and-six against man coverage, so he only eats when the play call goes downfield. The pick still holds up at 69, since the floor is a return contributor and the ceiling is a genuine WR2 if the route tree and target share grow. Year two is the tell.