Silver And Black Pride
The Las Vegas Raiders’ offensive line showed growth down the stretch of last season, and all five starters from the second half of the campaign return, providing optimism for the unit moving forward. However, the position group — especially Dylan Parham, Jordan Meredith and Jackson Powers-Johnson — will be put to the test in Week 1 against the New England Patriots.
Fresh off winning a Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles, defensive tackle Milton Williams became the second-highest-paid player at his position by inking a four-year, $104 million contract ($26 million per year) with the Patriots. The primary reason for that lucrative deal is that he’s an excellent pass-rusher.
According to Pro Football Focus, Williams finished the regular season with 40 pressures, which was 19th among interior defenders despite logging the fewest pass-rush snaps of anyone in the Top 20. Additionally, he ranked second with a 90.4 PFF pass-rush grade and fourth with a 17.7 win percentage, and he added 14 more pressures at a 17.3 percent win rate during the postseason.
Clearly, the former Eagle is someone the Raiders’ offense will want to keep tabs on this Sunday. So, let’s take a look at what he can do.
As most defensive tackles do, Williams primarily wins as a pass-rusher with a nasty bull rush. He has an impressive get-off and uses great leverage, hand placement and leg drive to collapse the pocket. All of that is on display in this rep against the Los Angeles Rams, where he puts the left guard on skates with his leverage and strength before using his hands to escape from the guard and get the sack.
Here, we’ll get another example of an impressive bull rush, but in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs this time.
Again, Williams does a good job of getting off the ball, putting his helmet underneath the guard’s and keeping his legs moving through contact to immediately put the offensive lineman on the lineman’s heels. So, even when center Creed Humphrey goes to help the guard, there isn’t much Humphrey can do since Williams is already well into the Chiefs’ backfield.
Also, the defensive tackle is good at getting on an edge and working the lineman’s hands after contact, allowing him to escape the block and finish the rep with a strip sack.
Speaking of working the hands, the fifth-year pro can also “defeat the hands to defeat the man” and win with finesse as a secondary pass-rush move to his bull rush.
Here, he gets to square on the Washington Commanders’ guard and uses a head/shoulder fake to get the guard’s feet to stop. That gives Williams a two-way go, meaning he has a pass-rush lane to the inside or outside of the blocker. Then, he has perfect timing with his hands to prevent the blocker from landing the punch, and he shows some hip fluidity to clear his lower half and get a clean win around the edge.
While he doesn’t get the sack...
