The Green Bay Packers will host an official pre-draft visit with Ole Miss edge rusher Sam Williams.
Williams told Tyler Komis of Inside the Rebels that he has visits lined up with the Packers, Dallas Cowboys and Atlanta Falcons and has already visited with the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets.
Teams are allowed 30 official pre-draft visits per year.
The Packers will use one on a highly athletic and productive edge rusher.
Over three seasons at Ole Miss, Williams produced 22.5 sacks, four forced fumbles and 32.5 tackles for losses. He also intercepted a pass and returned a fumble for a touchdown. During his senior season in 2021, Williams created 12.5 sacks and 15.5 tackles for losses, both good for the second-most in the SEC.
Williams spent two seasons at a junior college (Northeast Mississippi CC) before arriving at Ole Miss.
At 6-4 and 261 pounds, Williams ran the 40-yard dash in 4.46 seconds, hit 33″ in the vertical and covered 123″ in the broad jump at the combine. He was clocked under 7.0 seconds in the three-cone drill at his pro day last week. He also improved his vertical to 36″ and put up 25 reps on the bench press.
Coming out of the combine, his Relative Athletic Score was 9.55 out of 10.
Sam Williams is a DE prospect in the 2022 draft class. He scored an unofficial 9.55 RAS at the Combine out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 63 out of 1389 DE from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/mMV4o1GbTU #RAS via @Mathbomb pic.twitter.com/Zu6ZuxGpFS
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) March 6, 2022
Lance Zierlein of NFL.com sees Williams as a subpackage pass-rusher who could struggle against the run early in his pro career.
“He projects as a potentially dangerous sub-package rusher who will need to get stronger and more competitive against the run if he wants to be considered for early down snaps,” Zierlein wrote.
In Green Bay, Williams could develop behind Rashan Gary and Preston Smith while playing snaps as a rotational rusher and learning how to refine the rest of his game.
The Packers will likely use one of their 11 draft picks on an edge rusher. The class is deep, the defense needs to replace Za’Darius Smith, and Brian Gutekunst never leaves the cupboard bare at a premium position like edge rusher.
Brennen Rupp’s breakdown of Williams as a prospect can be viewed here.
