Second and third-year NFL players ready to break out in 2019

#8 Connor Williams

Unlike NFL teams who invested draft picks in the top half of the first round last year, I thought Connor Williams was the top tackle on the board and I was one of the few who believed he could stay on the edge full-time. However, when the Cowboys selected him out of Texas in the second round and were forced to slide Joe Looney in at center after Travis Frederick was put on IR with that autoimmune disease, it was left guard that really stood out as a position that Williams could compete for.

While there were definitely some struggles early on, the rookie would go on to start 13 games and improve as the season went along. Williams’ biggest struggles came when he was one-on-one in pass protection, as he got a warm welcome to the league by Carolina’s Kawann Short in week one, and interior defenders had a two-way go against him since he had always been dealing with the outside rush at the tackle spot. With a full offseason to examine and Frederick likely to be back in the middle for Dallas, we have yet to see how the coaches will put together that starting five.

I’m not sure if they will move the second-year man to right tackle already, but I don’t believe they plan on re-signing La’el Collins, who is holding that spot at the moment. If I made the decision, I would put Williams out there, because of what I saw from him in terms of his balance, hand-placement and feel for the arc. That way Collins would move to guard, where I evaluated him to fit best out of LSU, whilst the Cowboys develop this year’s third-round pick Connor McGovern.

They’d still have Xavier Su’a Filo to slide in at guard if they needed Collins to replace somebody at the tackle spot. No matter where they end up playing him, I expect Williams to be much more comfortable in year two on what should return to being one of the top O-lines in the league.