NFL Draft 2023 tracker: Live blog and pick-by-pick analysis

After the Bills used their first two picks on offense, they went to defense with their third-round selection and drafted Tulane linebacker Dorian Williams with the 91st pick. Especially following the departure of Tremaine Edmunds in free agency, some were expecting a more significant investment in a linebacker than a third-round pick. Still, the Bills did end up adding to the position before Day 2 concluded.

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Williams joins the Bills after being a full-time player over his last three seasons at Tulane. He amassed 302 tackles, 27 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks since 2020.

Draft grades: Scott Dochterman on rounds 2-3
Big board best available: Who’s left from Dane Brugler’s Top 300?

Big board ranking

Williams was the seventh-best linebacker by Brugler and was not on his Top 100. Brugler had both Wisconsin’s Nick Herbig and Alabama’s Henry To’oTo’o ranked ahead of Williams.

Introduction

A three-star recruit, Williams was the No. 176 outside linebacker in the 2019 recruiting class and the No. 47 recruit in South Carolina. Coming from a smaller high school not known for producing Division I football recruits, he wasn’t a well-known player on the recruiting trail. After his junior season, Williams picked up offers from FCS Campbell and Charleston Southern and a pair of FBS programs, Coastal Carolina and Troy. He originally committed to Coastal in June 2018 prior to his senior year, but Tulane entered the picture toward the end of his senior season, and he flipped to the Green Wave. (Williams: “The academics were important to me and my parents.”) Williams was part of the same Tulane recruiting class as fellow three-star Tyjae Spears. He accepted an invitation to the 2023 Senior Bowl but pulled out after the second practice because of a fractured wrist. He was the weakside linebacker in Tulane’s 4-2-5 defensive scheme. Williams was a core special teamer at Tulane with 759 snaps over his collegiate career.

How Williams fits

The initial impulse of the Williams pick is that as a third-rounder, he would immediately compete to replace Edmunds, but that wasn’t the Bills’ vision. After the selection, general manager Brandon Beane said Williams would begin his career as an outside linebacker in their scheme, not at the middle linebacker spot vacated by Edmunds. Beane did say Williams could possibly down the line cross-train at middle linebacker. Williams will figure into the competition to be one of the three linebackers on base defense against heavier formations, but at minimum, has a chance to be a core-four special teams asset.

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Second guess?

The Bills elected to go for a linebacker without the immediate vision that he could compete for the middle linebacker role, and that is a slight surprise. The team has been very careful to limit expectations for their second- and third-round picks in recent years and doesn’t have many expectations for them to start as a rookie, which could explain some of their thinking. The Bills may have been better served to trade down from No. 91 and accrue an additional Day 3 pick to help the backend of their roster, but they felt Williams was too good to pass on.

Rookie impact

The odds are against Williams factoring into the starting lineup in his first season with the Bills. They will bring him along as an outside linebacker, which is top linebacker Matt Milano’s immediate position, and go from there. Williams could have an opportunity to be the third linebacker in base defense or the top reserve should any of the top two or three get injured. His best chance at early playing time is on special teams, an aspect to Williams’ game that Beane alluded to, saying special teams coordinator Matthew Smiley would love having the linebacker on the Bills’ core-four units.

Depth-chart impact

Williams will have a locked-in spot on the 53-man roster and could push one of the team’s linebackers from 2023 off the active roster if they can’t find room for seven. The potential cut candidates for the upcoming season are either A.J. Klein or 2022 seventh-round pick Baylon Spector, with Spector being the more likely option. Williams likely will not factor into the starting lineup on defense unless he steps in and has an impactful training camp that outplays Terrel Bernard, Tyrel Dodson and Klein.

Fast evaluation

The Bills are clearly giving themselves as many swings as possible at linebacker to replace Edmunds internally, and Williams is just another piece of the puzzle. Although Williams won’t immediately challenge for the role in 2023, he could down the line if Bernard doesn’t cement himself in the starting lineup this season.

 (Photo: Joe Robbins / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)