NFL Draft
11/26/24
5 min read
Tyleik Williams 2025 NFL Draft: Scouting Report For Ohio State Buckeyes DT
Height: 6030 (unofficial)
Weight: 327 (unofficial)
Year: Senior
Pro Comparison: BJ Hill
Scouting Overview
Ohio State Buckeyes defensive tackle Tyleik Williams is a player who, in the right environment, could see everything snap into place and become a draft steal. He’s obviously a gifted defender who showcases an understanding of the value of his hands and has an athletic foundation that offers him hope to find a consistent impact on passing downs.
However, Williams never really made “the leap” at Ohio State and will now be charged with regularly finding the best of himself at the NFL level. Williams is a disruptive run defender who offers a squatty build, effective length, and active hands.
2025 NFL Combine Results
TBD
Positives
- Showcases some very savvy hands for block deconstruction in the run game
- History of impressive explosiveness within the Ohio State S&C program
- Potential pass rush upside is present
Negatives
- Pass rush resume in 2024 does not offer excitement for NFL leap
- He has played at a number of different weights during his career between 290 and 320 — is he a 3T, or is he a 1T?
- Overall play consistency is still lacking
Background
Williams was born in Manassas, VA, and played his high school football for Unity Reed HS. There, he was ranked as a 4-star recruit for the 2021 recruiting class while receiving offers from a slew of national powers. Williams collected First-Team All-State honors and was selected to play in the Army All-America Bowl before enrolling early at Ohio State in the spring of 2021.
Williams made a splash as a true freshman in 2021, earning Freshman All-American honors while playing in 12 games for the Buckeyes. He logged snaps in 13 games as a sophomore in 2022 before collecting Second-Team All-Big Ten honors in 2023. Williams entered the 2024 season with 38 career games played and 12 career starts.
Tale Of The Tape
Williams is a stout run defender who has flashed the ability to take over periods of games for the Buckeyes. With a firm punch and good instincts for playing the point of attack, Williams feels like a high-floor player at a minimum at the NFL level. Although, the ultimate valuation he receives in the pre-draft process will likely be determined by the confidence of a team to help him reach his ceiling.
At his best, he’s got plus quickness and agility for a player of his stature and has flashed the ability to get into the backfield as a penetration run defender and pass rusher. His ability to stack blocks and process pressure before discarding blockers is capable of being disruptive between the tackles.
Williams has the density and strength to absorb contact in vertical releases and usually offers a strong recovery from first contact to gather and control the block. In these instances, he can parlay his hands with enough lateral mobility and agility to drop off a block and trace the back off of a cut into a gap in his vicinity.
As a pass rusher, he has surprising twitch for a player of his stature, and some of his older tape shows even more agility and burst — so a team will have to make a decision on a playing weight for Williams based on the role they envision him being best at. These opportunities always add variance to an evaluation if the playing weight committed to is not within the equilibrium of Williams’ natural weight, so this is a risk assessment each team will independently have to be comfortable with.
In 2024, he showed modest burst out of the blocks and did not frequently overtake gaps against slide protections, trying to overtake his rush with angles. He won more often with sliding off of blocks than moving targets and was more opportunistic with rushing landmarks than overtaking a setting guard in a half-man rush.
Williams does offer power, however. He can put smaller blockers on skates and walk a guard back into the lap of a static quarterback. His application of power is reliant on a good start out of the blocks, which is not always a constant in his game.
If Williams gets caught with his eyes up, he can stall his momentum and take away the burst he does have. The start-stop ability is not going to afford him a lot of rush recovery ability in the same way that he can laterally fall off a block, thanks to his hands slingshotting him off of a blocker.
Ideal Scheme Fit, Role
Williams projects best into an even front scheme as an A-gap defender. He has the penetration quickness to threaten the A-gap and the mass to hold anchor against the point of attack. His successes in deconstructing blocks will make him a valued run defender.
Williams has some upside as a pass rusher thanks to pleasant quickness for his stature, but he’s likely a rotational player early on run downs with a chance to further develop a pass rush prowess to command snaps down the line.
Grade: 77.50/100.00, Second Round Value
Big Board Rank: TBD
Position Rank: TBD
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