Paul Bretl | 4/26/2025
GREEN BAY, Wis. — After taking Matthew Golden in Round 1, the Packers were not done adding to the wide receiver position on Day 2, selecting TCU’s Savion Williams.
The Packers’ decision to add two wide receivers early on in the draft will increase competition, and also better prepare them for the 2026 offseason when Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs are both set to be free agents. However, as GM Brian Gutekunst mentioned following Day 2, more than anything, the board is what led the Packers to making these picks.
“You’re aware of it but I don’t think when we go into the draft we try to put much emphasis on that,” Gutekunst said of the Packers’ contract situations at wide receiver. “We’re really trying to build the board with the right values and letting it come to us and follow the board. I think if you get in there and try to make decisions in the draft based too much of that stuff, you can get yourself in trouble and take the wrong guy.
“So we try to get the values right vertically and horizontally and then as the draft goes, there’s a lot of uncontrollables in the draft, you try to follow the board as best you can and that’s what we did tonight and that’s how it shook out.”
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While listed as a wide receiver, and that’s what he will play with the Packers, Williams brings a very different skill set to this offense compared to his fellow wideouts. Williams has terrific size, measuring in at 6-4 – 222 pounds and is fast, running a 4.48-second 40 during the pre-draft process.
That combination of size, straight line speed, and lateral quickness allowed Williams to fill a variety of roles within the TCU offense.
In addition to being a key cog in the TCU passing game, the last two seasons, which included 147 targets during that span, Williams also carried the ball 51 times last season, averaging an impressive 6.3 yards per rush as a wildcat quarterback in that offense.
“His ability with the ball in his hands. Obviously, size as well. He’s a huge man, but his determination, his ability, his elusiveness, his power, his ability to break tackles, I just thought those were the first things that stuck out to you.”
Williams’ presence can add a different dimension to Matt LaFleur’s offense. Lance Zierlein of NFL.com picked Cordarrell Patterson as Williams’ NFL comp. When Gutekunst was discussing Williams and what he adds to the offense, he referenced Tyler Ervin, who filled a gadget-type role in LaFleur’s offense a few seasons ago.
There are a variety of ways that Williams can get the ball in his hands, whether that be out of the backfield, on jet sweeps, or designed touches in space, where his YAC and playmaking abilities can be on display. According to PFF, Williams averaged nearly 7.0 yards after the catch in 2024.
He can also be a decoy as a motion man, which can cause some chaos for a defense, possibly forcing them to make a last-second adjustment, or get them flowing one way, which can open up opportunities elsewhere.
“Everything that my team needs me to do, that’s what I’m doing because that’s what I did my last year at TCU,” Williams said when speaking with reporters. “They needed me. Our running game wasn’t the best, so they put me back there in Wildcat and ran me and, shoot, that’s what I did to help my team. Whatever I need to do for my team, that’s what I need to do.”
However, as Gutekunst said, the Packers view Williams as a wide receiver. As highlighted, there are certainly creative ways to get him involved on offense, but Gutekunst likes his ability to create separation as well, specifically when stressing a defense vertically.
“They moved him all around in different ways, I thought there was a little bit of a rawness to his game as far as the polish as a route-runner, and things like that,” Gutekunst said. “But his ability to create separation and get behind guys vertically and catch the football, all those things I think, he just really seemed to fit what we’re trying to do.”
Williams’ presence on the roster will only add to the competition within the wide receiver room. Between him and Golden, with fewer roster spots available, less snaps to be had, and not as many targets to go around, I imagine that part of the hope internally is that then raises the level of urgency within the room from top to bottom, and therefore the level of play.
In an offense where versatility was already prioritized, Williams’ do-it-all presence will add a different element, giving Matt LaFleur even more options each week as he builds out his game plans.
“He is a unique body type,” Gutekunst said. “But he is one of those guys that I think just fits Matt’s offense to a T, because you guys know how we use our receivers in the blocking game. When scouts set out looking at receivers, we don’t watch blocking first, I can promise you that. He can do a lot of that stuff that Matt asks of our guys to do. And then, again, just the ability with the ball in his hands after the catch, I think is really elite.”