New Orleans Saints Draft: WR Chad Williams, Grambling

Steve McNair, Doug Williams, Michael Strahan, Jerry Rice, and Walter Payton have all come from historically black colleges. Those are just a few. Many of these players have come from the SWAC Conference. Wide receiver Chad Williams is just trying to get the chance to make his mark in the NFL.

Chad Williams comes from Grambling University. The university used to send a lot of guys onto the NFL when Eddie Robinson was still coaching. Things have changed quite a bit since then. For instance, Williams is trying to be the first player from Grambling to be drafted since 2006 11 years ago.

Williams is very fortunate to even get this far.

"“It’s an overwhelming experience. I’m just soaking in everything and trying to take in as much as I can from these guys.”"

Former Rams WR standout Torry Holt is trying to to help Williams to get to that next level. Holt was one of the receivers that was on the “greatest show on turf” team with Kurt Warner. Williams caught 90 balls for 1,337 yards with 11 touchdowns. All were the best in the SWAC this past year.

Williams stand at 6-foot-1 and 204 lbs. Williams is projected to run the 40 yard dash around 4.5-4.59 and possibly be drafted in the later rounds. There’s even the possibility that Williams could end up as undrafted free agent. Either way, don’t blink on this guy.

The one thing that stands out on his stat sheet is his consistent progress from year one. From his sophomore year, Williams caught 45 balls for 572 yards and five touchdowns. Afterwards, in his junior season, Williams had 64 receptions for 1,012 yards and 10 touchdowns. Finally, last year he caught 90 passes for 1,337 yards with 11 touchdowns. These are the type of things that coaches love to see.

Even more impressive, is his late entrance into the Reese’s Senior Bowl this Saturday. As a matter of fact, he did plenty to impress the scouts last week in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. In fact, Williams also had a very impressive practice last week in California to earn a spot this upcoming week on the roster. Additionally, he also caught a pass in the game for 10 yards.

At any rate, Williams will be looked at as a long shot to make it in the NFL. That could be a great motivation. Surely, Jerry Rice was probably told that many of times. The key going forward for him is to stay focused and listen to the people around him. There will be plenty of doubters out there.

However, the only thing that matters, is what goes on inside his head. The Saints and Payton are always looking for someone special late in the draft. Wide receiver Marques Colston was one of those rare treasures out of Hofstra University. Colston was picked in the seventh round in 2006 and ended up being one of the best.