The North Carolina Tar Heels have had a defensive lineman drafted in the first round in each of the last two years. Robert Quinn was taken 14th overall in the 2011 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Rams, and the next year Quinton Coples was drafted 16th overall by the New York Jets. Sylvester Williams will try to make it three years in a row this week.

The big defensive tackle has relatively limited experience playing football. He only played for one year in high-school, and gave up on the sport when he began working at a manufacturing plant making radiator parts. He decided to give it another shot, and enrolled at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas, where he utterly dominated for two years.

He flashed onto the scene in his first year at UNC, recording 54 tackles, 2.5 sacks, and seven tackles for a loss. When Coples left for the NFL, Williams was the biggest threat on the line, so he drew a lot of extra attention. However, he ended his senior year with 13.5 tackles for a loss and six sacks in the best statistical year of his football career.

 

Strengths

Frame/Power: Williams has the prototypical frame for an interior defensive lineman in the NFL. He’s thick and powerful, and has good length, but not so much that he struggles with leverage. He’s well-proportioned with thick thighs and broad shoulders. He knows how to his size and power to effectively bull-rush, and he has the arm strength to rip through blocks and pull down ballcarriers.

Quickness/Technique: Not many men with Williams’ size can move like he does. He has elite quickness off the snap, bursting through gaps with alarming suddenness. He demonstrates an effective club move and rip move, but his swim move is devastatingly lethal. He times the snap well and varies his get-off to mix things up with the offensive line.

Potential: Given his relative inexperience and the growth he’s shown through his five years of football, his best years may very well be ahead of him. He’s older than most of the prospects in the draft (November 21, 1988), which could be a tiebreaker for some teams if they have him and another player rated similarly. However, defensive linemen tend to peak later, so he could be more ready to produce from day one.

Weaknesses

Motor: Though he is extremely quick in a phone booth and pursues well to the edge, his downfield pursuit is lacking, particularly compared to guys like Sheldon Richardson and Sharrif Floyd. He doesn’t handle cut blocks well at all, often allowing himself to be removed completely from the play. This was especially apparent in 2011, and he reportedly dropped about 30 pounds over that offseason. Playing at a significantly lighter weight could have negatively affected his stamina, and he looked fantastic in positional drills at the combine and during his Pro Day, so he could be on the verge of a real breakout as he adapts to his new playing weight.

Agility: He’s quick in a straight line, but his lateral agility and hip flexibility is decidedly below average, so if he doesn’t arm-over an offensive lineman quickly, he’s forced to turn completely sideways to slide through the line, which makes him an easy blocking target.

Bottom Line

If he was two or three years younger, he’d be a shoo-in first-round pick. As it is, his inconsistency and lack of experience combined with his age could be enough to persuade a team in the latter half of the first round to pass on him for an impact player at another position. Another team, however, may bank on his upside and spring for him as early as the mid-teens. He possesses definite first-round talent, and in another year with a lighter defensive tackle class, he would probably be a top-10 selection. As it is, he’s mostly likely to come off the board somewhere between Minnesota at 23th overall and Tennessee at 40th overall.