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Miami Dolphins undrafted WR Preston Williams opening eyes, turning heads

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by Sceeto, May 29, 2019.

  1. Sceeto

    Sceeto Well-Known Member

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    https://www.palmbeachpost.com/sport...r-preston-williams-opening-eyes-turning-heads

    Who’s 82?!? Miami Dolphins rookie Preston Williams looks to be a real one


    DAVIE — Preston Williams is not your typical undrafted rookie free agent.

    Williams stands out. Williams catches touchdown passes. Williams opens eyes.

    The Miami Dolphins, it is already clear, may have a steal in Williams, the receiver from Colorado State.

    Williams has size (6-foot-4, 210 pounds) and speed and body control and footwork and well — talent. Lots of talent.

    RELATED: Miami Dolphins: Rookie WR Preston Williams is acrobatic, exciting and for the moment, humbled

    Williams has stood out in a manner similar to fellow big receiver DeVante Parker in organized team activities.

    If Jakeem Grant and Albert Wilson return to speed as they recover from injury, and Kenny Stills flourishes with increased opportunity, Miami may actually have a really good receiving corps.

    Williams went undrafted due to an off-field incident involving a woman. If not for that, he would have been drafted.

    Williams, who began his college career at Tennessee, had 1,345 yards receiving and 14 touchdowns last season. He’s constantly winning balls in practice and has been scoring touchdowns.

    “Preston’s doing a nice job,” quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick said. “He’ll make some ‘wow’ plays and he’ll make some plays that remind you that he’s a young guy. Consistency is going to be a big thing with him. In terms of some of the physical features and the way that he can go get the ball and those type of things, he’s been very impressive.

    “Again, he’s working his tail off and it shows and you can tell out here, but there’s also a lot of work that still needs to be put in for him to be able to be trusted and be out there.”

    Williams is working to build that trust. He was humbled by falling entirely out of the NFL Draft.

    “Got to earn your stripes,” Williams has tweeted. “I will emerge, don’t count me out.”


    Williams can run past defenders, leap over them and keep his feet inbounds with uncanny ability.

    “He’s making some plays,” defensive back Bobby McCain said. “He’s definitely caught some eyes. And he’s a big, long receiver, big long paws. And you know just he’s definitely making some plays. As long as he keeps doing it and keeps making plays in training camp, he can hopefully earn a spot on this roster.”

    Fitzpatrick, who understands what it takes to be a professional, is in wait-and-see mode. It’s May. Fitzpatrick’s comments suggest that in no way has Williams arrived. But yes, he’s intrigued by the athleticism.

    “It’s not like we sit down and talk at lunch every day, but he’s definitely flashed,” Fitzpatrick said. “He’s definitely a guy that, as a quarterback, you take notice at some of the plays that he’s making. Like I said, great plays and boneheaded plays. We have to find a consistency there, but he certainly has enough talent to do it.”

     
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  2. Puka-head

    Puka-head My2nd Fav team:___vs Jets Club Member

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    Slightly left of center
    Give me 10-12 guys like this on the team every year and we will have a winning team. Being humble and hungry makes you work. And hard work will beat talent when talent doesn't work hard.
     
  3. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I like the way he goes hard in games, I like the way he gets off the line in press, runs routes with pride, has size, there’s nothing not to like about an undrafted free agent with this amount of talent.

    Kid had a lot of production, and a lot of the times hisqb was under heavy pressure, not allowing time for him to work downfield as much, which tells me there is more meat on that bone..

    If you watch the Florida game where he went upagainst a first round corner you could see that hefought hard, but his qb was under intense consistent pressure the whole game.

    This is where we see if Flores is that guy we think he may be, a true leader of men, maybe a man who can get some troubled players with hi level talent with good hearts on the right path to stardom, that father figure who can connect with these young men through his own experiences growing up, and now provide that father figure they may need
     
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  4. Dorfdad

    Dorfdad Well-Known Member

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    Why wasn’t he drafted? Something about beating a women? I’m not sure I’m comfortable with heaping praise on bad character players they always imploded and cause scenes.
     
  5. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    He never beat a woman, imo after reading everything there is to read about the story, you have yourself a very jealous boyfriend..
     
  6. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I think it has to have something to do with interviewing..There’s something going on that hasn’t been reported.
     
  7. Dorfdad

    Dorfdad Well-Known Member

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    I have no clue just curious so it’s just a jealous girlfriend I assume with no physical altercation? If so than that’s not a big deal but seems weird no one drafted him over a silly thing which leads me to believe more involved
     
  8. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    There’s a report of shoving, but you know how that can be exaggerated, and a lil stalking apparently..

    I’m with you I tend to think he oft putting in interviews.
     
  9. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    He physically shoved his live-in girlfriend to try and prevent her leaving the apartment (she was moving out), and then he grabbed her arm as she was trying to leave.

    He was originally charged with misdemeanor harassment and misdemeanor tampering, with a domestic violence enhancement. She got a protection order against him, which he then violated by calling her cell phone 200 times, which led to him being arrested a second time for violation of the protection order.

    He pleaded guilty to the harassment charge, receiving a suspended sentence, and all the other charges were dropped.

    This is not something you want to sugar coat by any means, and you're going to have to look for other signs of physical behavior toward women. But he had a clean record that way going in, and he has kept his nose clean since, so we'll just have to see.

    He also had some immaturity stuff in his past. I believe he got kicked out of a recruiting trip to Auburn because he was smoking weed and actively trying to recruit the other kids on the recruiting trip to Tennessee. Which personally I consider to be a pretty boss move, but that's just me, lol.

    I'm not entirely sure why he didn't catch on at Tennessee. I know he had an ACL tear in his senior year of high school, after he'd already committed to Tennessee, and so that had to be a challenge trying to come back from. He also had to re-take his ACT for some reason which delayed his being able to work in the program. It would seem understandable that he didn't really do much in that first year with the Vols.

    But what happened in his 2nd year? Why did he fall out of favor? Why did he decide to transfer out? His destination, Colorado State, was understandable. Mike Bobo was there. Those two had struck up a relationship during the recruiting process when Bobo was at Georgia and all the top schools were after Williams. When Preston tore his ACL during his senior year, even though he was committed to Tennessee already, Bobo was there at his hospital bed visiting and comforting him. But why leave Tennessee? Wish I knew more of what happened there. It wasn't an inability to compete with the SEC talent, regardless of what anyone might suggest.

    The second thing that happened that caused him to go undrafted was he flunked his pro day. For whatever reason, the track start doesn't agree with him. You can look at his laser splits and see it. He had a stupendous "Flying 20" for his size (the last 20 yards of the 40 yard dash). Over the last five years the only guy as tall as Preston Williams with a better Flying 20 was Dorial Green-Beckham. So yeah, Preston has top speed. But he took a while to get there for whatever reason at the pro day, and that hurt him.

    (I hate the track start measurement for wide receivers...it's not a football move)

    The other thing that happened is he tried to do his vertical and ended up having to do it six times because the scouts kept disqualifying the result. We find this happens when a guy is more comfortable jumping off one foot as opposed to doing a two foot standing jump. He's a former long jump and triple jump Georgia state champion and his high school coach once said he has like a 41 inch vertical. But his high jumps all got disqualified and the scouts gave him a 31 inch vertical.

    I saw one scout say that the combination of the two things, the checkered past and his flunking the pro day, would mean that his team won't be drafting him. The scouts all seemed to think someone would draft him in the mid rounds, just not their team. Then nobody did.

    I can't pretend to know intimate details of Preston Williams's workout program or work ethic. But I can say that if you follow him on Instagram, the feed is 100% football and him working on his craft. Reshad Jones is posting pictures of himself partying while he should be at OTAs, but whenever you look at Preston Williams's feed, it's just him working or videos of what he does on the field. I know there have been people close to Preston who corroborate that football is all he works on.

    A past doesn't bother me if it's in the past, and if it has nothing to do with how he works at football. So we'll see.
     
  10. Dorfdad

    Dorfdad Well-Known Member

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    Damn CK I got more than I imagined lol you sure your not his agent :)
     
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  11. rafael

    rafael Well-Known Member

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    I won't pretend to know what happened between him and the woman, but I have known several guys who, for whatever reason, had a woman that they behaved crazy around and then never had another issue before or after.

    There seems to be enough talent there, certainly considering the investment. And he seems to be saying and doing the right things. Reality though is that there are probably 20 WRs available every draft whom you could say the same things about who never amount to anything. Hopefully he'll end up one of those gems that come out of that group every once in a while. Maybe he can become the guy we hoped Parker would become.
     
  12. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    As far as some recent criticisms I’ve been hearing about his lack of speed and shallow vert...I think there is a large difference between athletic talent and football talent..

    Take Jarvis Landry, couldn’t run fast or jump high, but inside his own box, inside his own spectrum and circumference of his athleticism, he’s an incredibly talented, highly coordinated position specific talent, can do anything from a talent perspective that any receiver can do, it’s just that his size, speed and jumping ability limits that circumference.
     
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2019
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  13. AGuyNamedAlex

    AGuyNamedAlex Well-Known Member

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    I agree he isnt the worst guy ever, but 200 text messages after a restraining order is heavy stalking lol
     
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  14. djphinfan

    djphinfan Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Not really Alex, trying to find closure
     
  15. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    Suppose it depends on how long of a time period. It also depends whether it was totally one-sided. There's nothing in there about whether she texted back. Even if she did text back, the protection order would be in violation for him to continue texting her. Hell I think I've had text conversations that would cover half that 200 text messages in one day, if not more.
     
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  16. Triggercut

    Triggercut Well-Known Member

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  17. AGuyNamedAlex

    AGuyNamedAlex Well-Known Member

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    That is fair, like I said I dont think hes the worst guy and I want him to do well.

    Just saying if it was 100% one sided, or even if she replied "go away" it's a little obsessive.

    Hell that might be good for us if hes just as obsessed with football after all.
     
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  18. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    More than a little, if it was always totally one-sided!

    And not harmless, either, if it's true he manhandled her when they were together at the apartment.

    Just saying these are discrete questions we don't know the answer to, that would be germane to the topic.

    It reminds me quite a bit of Brandon Marshall with his long-time girlfriend back in Denver. I remember hearing Broncos staff anonymously say it's just this one girl, he wished they'd break up. Eventually they did, and while I wouldn't say that Brandon *never* had a problem that way again, the river of police involvements definitely slowed a bunch.

    Sounds like Preston and this girlfriend are not a thing anymore, so perhaps his future relationships will see him behaving better, as was the case with Marshall.
     
  19. Surfs Up 99

    Surfs Up 99 Team Flores & Team Tua

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    Preston’s good play is bringing up some questions I have regarding our wr’s. It has been said that other than Stills (and that is questionable), we don’t have a legitimate #1 WR because we don’t have a guy who can get off the line if pressed. Is that true? If so, is there anything our offense can do to force the defense into a more favorable coverage so guys like Parker, Williams, Grant, etc. can get beat the jam and get into their routes?
     
  20. invid

    invid Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I don't think that's true at all, nor do I believe a #1 receiver is a necessity for any team, more like a luxury if you happen upon a Julio Jones et al via the draft.

    I think you're much better with a range of different skill sets like we have now, as long as they're just plain efficient receivers. You also need a good QB to make any of it work the way it should.
     
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  21. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    I've never been in love with the idea of a #1 wide receiver because it seems like nobody can even define it anyway, and regardless you don't seem to need it in order to be a good offense.

    I think the Patriots offense has a discrete role for a guy like DeVante Parker and it doesn't surprise me he looks productive thus far, nor does it surprise me that his twin Preston Williams is doing the same things on 2nd/3rd string as DeVante is doing on 1st string.

    It's part of the role. Think about what Randy Moss once did for that offense, what Chris Hogan was doing, what Josh Gordon briefly did last year. Brandon LaFell played that role for a season (leading all Patriots wide receivers in snaps that year). They flirted around with Aaron Dobson one year, as well.

    There's a role for this and I imagine it's why they brought Parker back in the first place.

    What I'll be interested in seeing is how Albert Wilson, Kenny Stills, and Jakeem Grant fit into this. I imagine that Wilson and Grant could fall into being considered analogous, and you see Jakeem getting lots of play right now because Albert isn't healthy yet. But then again, who knows? Wilson could come in healthy and box Kenny Stills out of the slot position.
     
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  22. KeyFin

    KeyFin Well-Known Member

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    Yeah, in today's day and age 200 isn't really a lot....my kids average 200 a day, often with one word messages (or emojis). So if it was light chatting over a month or two, 200 could be a low amount of conversation...who knows? This feels like a non-story to me.
     
  23. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    Kid continues to ball in Mini Camp tho. He did have a drop in the end zone today but otherwise had a bunch of catches and seems to be getting some second string call ups now.

    Brice Butler being hurt really does help him. There’s a discrete role for a player like Preston Williams in this offense. You’ve seen it filled by the likes of Randy Moss and Chris Hogan up in NE, with some single year swipes at Brandon LaFell, Aaron Dobson, and this year Josh Gordon. DeVante Parker is getting a huge amount of work filling that role on first string. Preston Williams is like his twin, and is getting a lot of run in that role on second/third string.
     
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  24. AGuyNamedAlex

    AGuyNamedAlex Well-Known Member

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    Personally, I feel you are always better off with a true #1 surrounded by guys with variety like we have.

    It just does so much for everyone on the offense. It can make coverages more predictable, it can help to make teams fear sending extra pressure, it can open up the run game.

    I mean...I agree it isnt priority #1 but if I can draft an elite receiver Im doing it. Free agency maybe not just because of the contracts...but Id be for paying home grown talent.

    Hell I wish Parker would be the guy we drafted him to be.
     
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  25. sking29

    sking29 What it takes to be cool

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    Another story of who or what you want to believe at UT too.

    At the time he was "granted his release", the Butch Jones era was starting to implode with transfers and locker room dissention. Williams was part of a string of transfers.

    Now the official statement is he left due to his diminished role. Depending on who you listen to, the reason for his diminished role was either a diva/lazy attitude or a guy fed up with his lack of role feeling betrayed/lied to by the UT staff. Butch Jones rubbed a lot of players the wrong way, some saying because of bait and switch recruiting promises, but from the ACT issues onward I think this fellow has a pattern of poor decisions.

    My reading of how things went here at UT is a guy with maturity issues paired with a coaching staff who didn't know how to handle his personality. Fault lies in both but the bottom line is William's has a string of poor decisions. Whether that is youth or a flawed character will show itself over time.
     
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  26. ckparrothead

    ckparrothead Draft Forum Moderator Luxury Box

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    Good rundown.

    Curious what the ACT issue was in the first place.
     
  27. sking29

    sking29 What it takes to be cool

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