Pats Pulpit
Previewing the Patriots wide receiver heading into his first NFL season.
Back in the 2024 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots spent two fairly high draft picks at the wide receiver position. With neither Ja’Lynn Polk nor Javon Baker showing much during their rookie seasons and with a new coaching staff coming to town, however, the need for more investment remained heading into the 2025 offseason.
The Patriots ended up making several moves to bolster the position group, including selecting Washington State’s Kyle Williams with the 69th overall pick in the third round of the draft.
Name: Kyle Williams
Position: Wide receiver
Jersey number: 18
Opening day age: 22 (11/13/2002)
Measurements: 5’10 5/8”, 190 lbs, 73” wingspan, 30 1/8” arm length, 8 3/4” hand size, 4.40s 40-yard dash, 36 1/2” vertical jump, 9’11” broad jump, 6.34 Relative Athletic Score
NFL: New England Patriots (2025-) | College: UNLV (2020-22), Washington State (2023-24)
A dual-threat quarterback early in his high school career, Williams made the move to wide receiver — while also playing defensive back — upon joining Santa Monica High School in Santa Monica, CA, for his senior season. His first year at his new position was a productive one, and he was eventually courted by several FBS-level schools as a three-star recruit.
Williams eventually decided to join UNLV, where he started all 25 of his games over a three-year period. During that time, he was on the receiving end of 117 catches for 1,568 yards and 9 touchdowns. Following the firing of head coach Marcus Arroyo after the 2022 season, however, he decided to enter the transfer portal and ended up at Washington State for the final two years of his college career.
The change of scenery was a positive one and allowed Williams to set new career highs in receptions, yards and touchdowns in back-to-back seasons. In total, he started 25 more games as a Cougar and added 131 catches for 2,040 yards and 20 TDs to his résumé.
As noted above, Williams was selected 69th overall by the Patriots in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Strengths: Williams can best be described with one word: explosive. The 22-year-old’s game is very much built around his ability to quickly get up to his 4.4-second speed and go through breaks without losing much momentum via wasted movement — all while varying his speed to put additional pressure on cornerbacks. His burst also makes it hard for would-be tacklers to get hold of him, which in turn allows him to be a threat with the ball in his hands as well as a productive player in the screen game.
A true three-level wideout, Williams had solid production in the short and intermediate areas as well as deep. His ability to create separation quickly — again a byproduct of his explosiveness — was a big reason for that: he was one of the top separators in the 2025 NFL Draft against both and man and zone...
