DJ Reader is already raving about Tyleik Williams’ intelligence.
Let’s start this off with something very clear and obvious: it’s impossible to know how Detroit Lions defensive Tyleik Williams will be as an NFL player before he’s even taken a single padded rep in practice. I know that. You know that. Good, we got that out of the way.
That said, the Lions’ first-round pick is already starting to impress some of the players and coaches around him.
Nose tackle DJ Reader, a nine-year veteran who not-so-coincidentally sits next to Williams in the meeting room, is already praising the 22-year-old’s intelligence.
“He’s really, really smart,” Reader said Thursday. “He picks up the playbook really well. Can’t wait to get to see him moving around and just see what’s going on. I watched him a little bit at Ohio State . We was just really impressed with his game.”
Williams’ intelligence was one of his characteristics that general manager Brad Holmes mentioned when talking about what stood out during the scouting process of the Ohio State defender.
“I remember his interview at the Combine. He really knocked it out the park with his intelligence and how much he knew about the game,” Holmes said on draft night.
It’s also what Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson said was one of Williams’ defining traits.
“I think the thing that separates Tyleik from anybody else is his football IQ,” Johnson said. “He’s really brilliant picking up things, picking up technique, picking up signals from the line of scrimmage. I think that’s his advantage. He’s really smart and he studies videotape. It makes him really separate himself from most guys I’ve coached.”
It’s one thing for Williams’ football IQ to already be standing out among his peers; it’s another to have one of the best modern nose tackles right there in the room with him. At this point in his career, Reader has already gladly adopted his mentorship role within the team , and Williams is already listening.
“There’s a bunch of vets in there,” Williams said during rookie minicamp earlier this month. “Just seen DJ inside, so just getting to talk with them, learn scheme, learn ball, learn how to play in the NFL, it’s different from college. So, I’m just a sponge. I’m just trying to learn everything I can to give me an advantage to go play and help contribute.”
We won’t know how Williams translates his intelligence to on-field play until the Lions get padded up in late July for training camp, but it certainly sounds like the rookie is off to a promising start.