Who is Brandon Williams?
As the off-season progresses and news breaks, we will shift our focus from rookies to relatively unknown players who are making noise with first-team reps in training camps across the league. After featuring the potential backup running back in Houston last week, we turn to 26-year-old tight end Brandon Williams of the Carolina Panthers.
[inlinead]Signed as a free agent in late April 2013, the Panthers discovered Williams’ potential and raw athletic ability at an NFL Regional Scouting Combine. Prior to the event, Williams had last played organized football in 2010. Following two productive seasons at Joliet Junior College, the 6’4”, 250 pound tight end caught two passes before a spinal injury cut his football career at Oregon extremely short. Though his hiatus from football turned out to be temporary, Williams hung up his cleats to play basketball at Portland Bible College before attending the 2013 combine.
Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates and Jimmy Graham are among the examples of why the fantasy world gets excited about former basketball players at the tight end position. Perhaps the example that would best suggest fantasy relevance is Julius Thomas, who is one inch taller than Williams but with a slightly slower 40 yard dash time (4.64 versus 4.56 at their respective combines). Both raw talents on the field but stars on the collegiate court, Thomas and Williams both saw time on the field despite few targets in their rookie seasons. For Thomas, a productive 2013 preseason led to his opportunity to display his “uber-athleticism” in the Denver offense after two seasons on the bench.
Williams is making noise this preseason after leading the Panthers in snaps with 56 in their August 8th opener against Buffalo. Catching three passes for 50 yards, including a clutch 31-yard touchdown in the last two minutes of the game made us stop and take notice of the relatively unknown backup. He followed this performance with another 31-yard reception against Kansas City in week two and another healthy share of snaps.
With zero offensive statistics in nine games in 2013, Williams has not been on the fantasy radar for most until the last couple weeks. While it’s necessary to take preseason action with a grain of salt, a healthy Williams receiving praise from his coaching staff and quarterback is worth monitoring. A scholarship athlete at Oregon and offers from Toledo, Baylor and Auburn, talent was not a question as he wowed scouts with his combination of strength and speed. He has shown great athleticism as a pass-catcher with great burst off the line for a man his size and speed to get past linebackers. Significant improvement in his blocking abilities has allowed him to stay on the field for more snaps.
One of the primary factors that makes Williams intriguing is his team situation. A common off-season storyline has been the loss of receiving options in an already barren Carolina receiver corps after Steve Smith signed with Baltimore, Brandon LaFell went to New England and Ted Ginn, Jr. opted to continue his career in Arizona. Though the acquisitions of players including Kelvin Benjamin, Jerricho Cotchery and Jason Avant (the projected top three wide receivers at this point) have suppressed much of the preseason concern about who Cam Newton could throw to in addition to Greg Olsen, an unproven rookie and two aging veterans hardly instill great confidence in the passing game.
In the last five seasons, Olsen has finished among the top ten tight ends three times and he is coming off the best season of his career (for fantasy purposes). While Olsen is a consensus top-twelve option at tight end, the backup receiving tight end could conceivably see a good share of targets in two-TE sets (albeit unlikely given the historical fantasy irrelevance of the backup tight end in Carolina) or in the event of an injury to the starter.
With Olsen healthy, however, it’s difficult to see a Thomas-like breakout for Williams in 2014. Unfortunately for him and all other tight ends in Carolina, fantasy relevance has proven to be hard to come by for tight ends who aren’t top dog on the depth chart. Among tight ends in 2013, Zach Ertz accumulated the most fantasy points among “backups” as he finished #22 (teammate Brent Celek was #18) – this doesn’t bode well for Williams to make much of an impact offensively, at least in 2014.
Still, though Carolina added Ed Dickson, the former Raven disappointed in his excellent opportunity last season while Dennis Pitta was sidelined and Williams has been receiving significantly more playing time in the preseason. Ironically, it was Dickson who Williams was primed to replace in Oregon prior to his spinal injury. Now, the former Ducks are battling for the backup job to Olsen and this time it appears the stronger Williams is gaining the momentum. To Williams’ advantage is his blocking abilities over the more finesse Dickson, who has thus far underwhelmed in his pass-catching at the NFL level.
As you may have guessed, Williams’ name does not appear in even the most recent ADP data. If he hasn’t been scooped up in your league following his strong performances in preseason action, he’s worth a waiver wire claim in deep and tight end premium leagues. If you have a roster spot to burn for the 2014 season, there are worse fliers to take for the end of the bench. Olsen is signed through 2015, though there is far less dead money on Carolina’s salary cap if he is cut after this season. With a hefty cap hit of $7.8 million, nearly $800,000 above 2014 franchise tag for tight ends, if the Panthers like what they see in Williams they may opt for the cheaper option in 2015.
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