Brad Holmes received a few trade calls Thursday night to move back from No. 28, including an "enticing" offer from one of the four teams picking after the Lions in the first round. He decided it wasn't worth the risk of missing out on their "top target," defensive tackle Tyleik Williams.
Were the Bills lurking two picks later?
Williams said Friday during his introductory press conference in Detroit that Buffalo was strongly considering taking him at No. 30. Defensive tackle was considered one of the Bills' most pressing needs entering the draft.
"They kind of told me if I was there, they want me," Williams said. "I had talks with the head coach, the D-line coach, they said they love my game and how I play. But it definitely was a possibility."
Makes sense why Holmes didn't budge. The Lions had multiple meetings with Williams in the pre-draft process and liked him more each time. Holmes also watched him extensively over the last four seasons at Ohio State. While it might have been a surprise to some when the Lions called his name in the first round, it wasn't to Williams.
Williams said the pre-draft talks he had with the Bills, who wound up taking Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston, were "kind of the same conversations I was having with the Lions."
"I definitely knew it was a possibility of me landing at 28, because I had great conversations (with them) at the combine, the 30 visit, and they basically told me, if I’m there, it’s a possibility they’re going to take me," Williams said.
So when the Lions were on the clock, Williams said he "had my phone right next to me, ringer on, all the way up, kept checking it, nervous. When I got that call, I don’t even know how to describe it, that feeling you get, that rush you get answering that call — I don’t think nothing compares to it, if I’m being honest."
Williams arrived at Ohio State weighing 360 pounds as a freshman, before dropping more than 40 pounds and quickly developing into a force on the interior of their defensive line. He played most of his career around 330. His position coach Larry Johnson said Friday the "two things that jump right off the bat is his initial quickness off the ball, and for a big guy to be able to bend and turn corners like he does, it's just unprecedented."
"You just don't do that very easily. I think the thing that separates Tyleik from anybody else is his football IQ. He's really brilliant picking up things, picking up technique, picking up signals from (the offense at) the line of scrimmage. I think that's his advantage. He's really smart and he studies tape."
In fact, Johnson said that Williams is so adept at dissecting the offense that "if you watch him real close, you'll see him sometimes standing and pointing where the play is going."
"He would understand exactly where the ball is going. He'd start telling the guys, 'It's going right, it's going right! It's going left, it's going left!' He would come to the sideline and say, 'Coach, here's their signals. Here's their calls. Here's their run-game calls.' He'd listen for that, and I think that's what separates Ty. He wanted to know where the ball is going, and being able to read and understand what the quarterback is seeing."
That will certainly appeal to Lions new defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard, who also appealed to Williams when they met Friday at the Lions' facility.
"Coach Shep, man, just met him and already love him," Williams said. "He’s a high-energy guy. He tells me how much he loves my game and how I play and how I can help the team, and you need a guy like that in your corner. I’m ready to get the playbook and all that, adjust, learn under him and how he coaches and how he runs his defense.
"I think I can help in a major way."