Williams, an All-SEC selection both seasons as a starting corner for the Tigers, was projected to be a sure-fire first-round selection but he remained on the board at 46 prompting Browns general manager John Dorsey to call his good friend, Colts GM Chris Ballard, and move up three spots.
So why did Williams fall?
Not even his college coach Ed Orgeron could figure it out.
“I don’t know that,” Orgeron told Andrew Siciliano on NFL Network. “Everything you do counts, obviously, they watch everything you do on film, everything you do that’s leading up to the draft. I do believe Greedy will be an excellent pick for the Cleveland Browns. He’s a great cover guy. He’s going to have a great career in the NFL.”
One of the criticisms of Williams is that his tackling suffered in 2018 but, like Dorsey, Orgeron doesn’t feel it’ll be problematic with the Browns.
“He’ll be fine. That’s one of the things they’ll address with Greedy in the NFL,” Orgeron said. “He’s very aggressive. He’s a physical kid. He’s very talented. I think he’ll be fine at it.”
During the Browns’ rookie minicamp last weekend Williams tried to explain why the criticism has been overblown.
“At LSU, my assignment was to play man-to-man and that’s what I did,” Williams said. “I really couldn’t show off my tackling ability. I saw the press conference where John Dorsey said we just need this guy to get somebody down, and that’s me.”
On the call to Williams as the team was selecting him, head coach Freddie Kitchens ribbed the rookie about his tackling.
“I wasn’t joking. He is going to have to tackle some,” Kitchens said. “When the ball gets out on the edge, we are not going to let him go. I don’t have a problem. Greedy is going to tackle. He wants to tackle. He is a willing tackler. That maybe have not all been on tape as an example, but peer pressure gets through them sometimes. It gets through our players, and if we have the leaders that I think we have, then he will tackle.”