Discussing Trent Williams
National Football League
Draft King Analysis
April 12, 2010
Lou Pickney, DraftKing.com
Reader feedback is always welcomed here. Send your thoughts to Draft King at LouPickney@gmail.com.
"[Russell] Okung isn't the top-rated tackle by the Redskins. Oklahoma's Trent Williams is."
-Rob Rang, The Sports Xchange, NFLDraftScout.com, 4/11/2010
I posted a new mock draft last week that did not include Oklahoma OT Trent Williams. The response was much stronger than I had anticipated; here's a look at two e-mails that made their way into my inbox. Bubba the Love Sponge has quite often cited my ability to craft a "strongly worded letter", but here is proof that sometimes what goes around comes around. My response follows the e-mails.
From: Kevin Freeman
To: LouPickney@gmail.com
Date: Wed, Apr 7, 2010 at 6:32 PM
Subject: mock draft april 6
you seem to have forgotten about Trent Williams OT. He is not falling out of the first round.
From: Barnaby Wong
To: LouPickney@gmail.com
Date: Fri, Apr 9, 2010 at 1:00 PM
Subject: Mock Draft
In your April 6th updated mock draft, you forgot about OT Trent Williams. He's no where to be found. That's a pretty big omission. You should really put in more time to look through your mock before publishing on the internet.
Looking forward to the updated update.
Lou: Both e-mails raise a fair point -- Trent Williams is almost for sure going to be a first round pick in this year's draft. But, I assure you, I did not forget about him as the e-mails suggest that I did. But it's wasn't as if that conclusion was unreasonable to draw.
Williams is a unique prospect, a guy who projects more as a right tackle than as a left tackle, at least initially. That's not a trait that one typically hears associated with a first round offensive lineman prospect, but there's much more to Trent Williams than just that. Otherwise this wouldn't even be a topic on here.
According to many scouts, Williams is seen as a player who would flourish in a zone blocking scheme. As noted in the dropquote at the beginning of this article, Rob Rang reported yesterday that the Redskins plan to draft Williams ahead of Okung. That's quite the scoop by Rang, who is a solid draft analyst. Williams' appeal to Washington may be helped by the Redskins instituting a new zone blocking scene on its offensive line under near head coach Mike Shanahan.
This is a very deep year at offensive tackle, which is in part why I had Williams sliding out of round one before. But the reality is that Williams' stock has been soaring, even before the Williams-to-Washington rumors came out. My readers are usually right when they write in with a correction or suggestion, and it appears that's the case here as well.
