New England Patriots third-round pick Kyle Williams was one of the breakout stars of the 2024 college football season. Over the first four years of his college career (three at UNLV and then one at Washington State), he never averaged more than 70 yards per game, topping out at 843 total yards in 2023.
That changed last year. Williams was one of the most productive receivers in the country, setting career-highs across the board. He recorded 70 catches for1,198 receiving yards (ranked seventh nationally) 14 touchdowns (ranked fourth).
Speaking to reporters after he was drafted by the Patriots 69th overall on Friday night, Williams was asked if there was any specific aspect of his game he focused on or worked to improve heading into that 2024 season. He cited his ability to create once the ball was in his hands.
“For me, it was just working on after the catch, making sure once I got the ball I could turn anything into a touchdown.” Williams said. “Being able to turn a five-yard hitch into a 60-yard touchdown, a three-year screen into a 60-yard touchdown. Just being able to extend plays is something that I really wanted to work in my game.”
The numbers bear that out. Despite his average depth of target remaining similar, Williams yards per catch increased by three years compared to his previous career high.
Prior to 2024 Williams averaged 5.5 yards after the catch per reception for his college career. Last year that number jumped to 8.4 yards – the second-highest total in the country among qualifying receivers and the highest among those in this draft.
Williams’ YAC ability shows up in multiple ways. He has the speed to simply run away from defenders – he ran a 4.40 40 at the Combine. But he also can make would-be tacklers miss. He forced 21 missed tackles in 2024, which ranked 12th among qualifying receivers.
That YAC ability should be warmly welcomed in New England and may be one of the top reasons the Patriots targeted him. Last year as a team the Patriots averaged just 5.0 yards after the catch, which ranked 25th in the NFL. Just the wide receivers combined to average 4.07 yards after the catch per reception.
Those numbers should improve this season for the Patriots. During Josh McDaniels’ previous tenues as offensive coordinator the Patriots were regularly one of the top YAC teams in the NFL, ranking in the top 10 in three of the last four years during his last stop (the NFL Next Gen data only goes back to 2018).
It wasn’t just after the catch that helped Williams improve in 2024. He regularly got open, as evidenced by the fact that he caught 62.5% of his targets. Prior to that he’d had under a 50% catch rate over his first four years (that’s simply percent of targets that turned into completions, not the same as drop rate).
Now he’ll use those skills to help McDaniels and Drake Maye create more big plays for the Patriots’ offense. Last year the Patriots had just 34 passing plays of 20-plus yards which was tied with the Giants for the fewest in the NFL.
Williams should be able to get to work right away for the Patriots. He has the ability to line up at all three wide receiver positions at 5-foot-11, 190 pounds. That gives him multiple paths to playing time in a receiver room that doesn’t have a lot of certainty heading into 2025.