And here’s the running back we were all promised. The Green Bay Packers selected BYU’s Jamaal Williams with their second fourth-round pick.
Williams was productive when he was on the field for Cougars throughout his college career. In 2016, he turned in 1,375 yards (5.9 per carry) and 12 TDs in 10 games. Over his four-year career, Williams averaged 5.4 per carry.
A four-year starter, Williams has also shown the ability to contribute in the passing game. Although there wasn’t much production there afterward, Williams caught 27 balls for 315 yards as a freshman.
All of those numbers look real nice. However, Williams has had off-the-field issues and hasn’t always been able to stay healthy. In terms of the former, he decided to sit out 2015 for personal reasons. In 2014, he was suspended for violating team rules on multiple occasions. In terms of the latter, Williams has missed games with ankle and knee injuries.
The knock on the guy — other than what we just mentioned — is he can’t create yards for himself. That said, he should be a good fit for the Packers’ zone blocking scheme — he’s a make-a-move-and-go-type runner.
And, we’ll again point out that you don’t need to draft a back in the first round to find a good back.
NFL.com says: His NFL size (6’0″, 212) and physical nature give him a shot to make the back-end of the running back depth chart, but his inability to create for himself with broken tackles and elusiveness puts a ceiling on his draft value.