Playing wide receiver in the NFL is a different challenge than it was in college \u2014 something the New England Patriots know well as they evaluate their options this offseason.<\/p>\n
While the team is expected to look outside the building for pass-catching help this offseason, there is also belief that improvements at the position could come from internal development.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce they get out there in the training camp, they realize that this isn\u2019t combine training and coverages change and things that look like man coverage now become zone coverage and things that are zone coverage now become match coverage and you know, there\u2019s just a lot of volume for that particular position,\u201d head coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday at the NFL Combine.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so I\u2019m excited to see where guys like Kyle Williams go from year one to year two, and just his development and his growth mentally and physically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joining a crowded depth chart full of veterans, it was a quiet rookie season for Williams. The receiver played just 31 percent of the team\u2019s offensive snaps and finished the regular season with just 10 receptions.<\/p>\n
He made them count, however, averaging over 20 yards per receptions and scoring three touchdowns \u2014 all over 30 yards. That big play ability has left the arrow pointing up entering his sophomore season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just know I\u2019m excited about seeing where he goes from Year 1 to Year 2,\u201d Vrabel said. \u201cMade some fantastic plays. Ability to adjust down the field on the deep ball. Has got really good release skills. We saw what the crossing route was against Tampa Bay and the ability to create an X-play that was maybe a 10- or 12-yard pass.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to sit there and say \u2018these guys are going to be a No. 1 receiver or edge rusher.\u2019 We\u2019re just excited that he\u2019s with us and what he showed us. His attitude was fantastic. We\u2019ll have to help him get to reach his potential.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the season, Williams acknowledged the need to improve his play strength in addition to working on the top of his routes.<\/p>\n
Those improvements could help the 23-year-old reach that potential, where he could become a more consistent big-play threat and a trusted weapon for quarterback Drake Maye as the Patriots look to keep improving their offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was available, and the way we used him was this more of a speed player, which he definitely has, but I think he\u2019s got more in him that he could show,\u201d Executive vice president of player personnel Eliot Wolf said. \u201cHe\u2019s got to get stronger. I think he\u2019d be the first one to tell you that. But, the fact that he was able to play in all 21 games for us was a testament to his ability to be available.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Playing wide receiver in the NFL is a different challenge than it was in college \u2014 something the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776780,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,52113],"class_list":{"0":"post-776779","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england-patriots-first-read"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116134939582272674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}