Milton

Williams

And for an hour or two, formerly of the Panthers. Adam Schefter reported that the Patriots would give Williams $63 million in guarantees. The Patriots reportedly beat out Carolina and Arizona for Williams’ services. Williams had a 91.7 PFF pass rush grade as part of an Eagles rotation with Jalen Carter and Jordan Davis inside, picking up five sacks in 653 defensive snaps. He’ll add some pocket push to a Patriots defense that had almost nothing of this caliber inside in 2024, and team with Harold Landry to try to get New England’s defense back to the prestige it enjoyed during the Bill Belichick years.

This announcement comes shortly after Russini reported Williams and the Panthers had agreed to a deal. Now, it appears multiple teams are still making a push to sign the 26-year-old tackle who recorded two sacks in the Eagles’ Super Bowl win over the Chiefs. While the Panthers are clearly one of the teams in play for Williams, a deal between the two sides is not imminent at this time.

Williams was one of the more sought after defensive tackles on the market. The 26-year-old played primarily in a backup role during his four seasons with the Eagles, but totaled a career-high five sacks last season while also posting 24 tackles and seven TFLs. Williams saved his best game of the season for the Super Bowl, when he tallied two sacks of Patrick Mahomes while also forcing and recovering a fumble. Now set to be a full-time starter, the Panthers will hope Williams can emerge as one of the league’s top defensive tackles in an emerging defense.

Graziano suggests the Panthers “might be one of the teams willing to spend big to lure defensive tackle Milton Williams away from the Super Bowl champion Eagles.” The Panthers will also attempt to bolster their edge rush and Graziano lists Saints defensive end Chase Young as an “intriguing option.” Adding Williams and Young to a defensive line featuring Derrick Brown and Jadeveon Clowney could help turn around Carolina’s dire 2024 defense. Safeties Jevon Holland and Camryn Bynum are also reportedly on the Panthers’ short list of preferred defenders.

Williams is coming off a season in which he posted a career-high five sacks while also notching seven TFLs and a forced fumble. The former third-round pick capped his strong season with an impressive performance in Super Bowl LIX, where he sacked Patrick Mahomes twice while also forcing and recovering a fumble. It was the kind of performance that should generate a lot of buzz for Williams when he hits the free agent market next month, as teams could be lining up to lure the fourth-year lineman away from the champs. Williams played a career-high 500 defensive snaps last season while also generating a career-best 40 pressures — nearly doubling his previous high of 22, which he set last season. While he would love to return to the Eagles, Williams also said he’d like a nice pay raise, which could make a return to Philly difficult.

The quietly productive defensive tackle was added to the injury report this week after practicing with a clean bill of health in Week 1. His consecutive limited participant designations are a positive sign for his Monday night availability. CB Isaiah Rodgers (hand) and LB Devin White (ankle) continued practicing in full. Backup LT Fred Johnson (thumb)

Williams (6'4/278) came through with a series of awesome athletic testing results, here. In addition to his strong 40-yard dash time, the Louisiana Tech product also put in superb marks in the vertical jump (38.5 inches), bench press (34 reps) and three-cone drill (6.93 seconds). As Pro Football Network’s Tony Pauline notes, just a handful of defensive backs (!) were sharper than Williams in the three-cone during last spring’s combine. Pauline is hearing third-round buzz on the lineman at this juncture, with Cincinnati and Dallas two teams to keep an eye on. All told, close to 60 scouts and team representatives were on hand for Louisiana Tech’s pro day.

Williams (6'4"/278) surprised some when he announced his intention to enter the NFL Draft back in January, but he turned some heads with an impressive showing at the EXOS pro day. Considered to be undersized as a 3-technique defensive lineman, Williams recorded a 4.63-second 40, 32 bench press reps and a 35-inch vertical. In Zierlein’s opinion, the Louisiana Tech lineman could shoot up draft boards with a similar performance at his school’s pro day. Williams has been given a fourth-round grade by Pro Football Network draft analyst Tony Pauline.

Williams is a bit of a stunning declaration. More often than not, Group of Five guys only tend to declare early when they are clear top-100 picks, if not outright first-round picks. Williams, on the other hand, is more of a borderline Day 3 pick who wants to bet on his development at the NFL level rather than sticking around one more year in college. At 6-foot-4 and 278-pounds, Williams is sized as a bit of a tweener between being a defensive tackle and a strong-side defense end, which could just land him in a five-tech role for an odd-front defense. Williams has earned 10 sacks over the past two seasons.