Entering the 2025 season, Antonio Williams was the sixth-best wide receiver in college football. He finished the season with 55 receptions for 604 yards and 4 touchdowns. The production gap is the story of Williams’ pre-draft cycle. His 2026 NFL Draft stock has settled in the back half of Day 2 rather than the front half of the class.
Where Will Antonio Williams Be Drafted? Day 2 Range With Rams in Play
PFSN’s Jacob Infante has Williams going to the Los Angeles Rams at No. 61 overall in his Day 2 and 3 mock draft.
“He may not have had the WR1-type season some expected from him, given his pre-draft hype, but Antonio Williams is still one of the best wide receivers in the 2026 NFL Draft,” Infante wrote. “He’s a crafty route runner with good explosion out of his breaks, consistently creating separation.”
The slot-only label is the industry consensus. It’s also the ceiling constraint. Teams draft slot specialists with some regularity in the back half of Round 2 and the front half of Round 3, which is exactly where Williams is sitting in mocks.
PFSN’s Ian Cummings sees more upside than the slot-only framing suggests.
“Antonio Williams is the ideal WR prospect for evaluators who marry film and analytical indicators,” Cummings wrote. “He was an immediate breakout as a true freshman, accounting for almost 20% of his team’s receiving output. In 2024, he accounted for over 23% of Clemson’s receiving volume, and nearly one-third of the team’s total passing touchdowns. And in 2025, he remained productive amidst a stark downturn for the Tigers’ offensive efficiency as a whole.”
Antonio Williams Scouting Report: Separator Profile With Durability Asterisk
Williams measured 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds. At the Combine, he ran a 4.41 forty, jumped 39.5 inches in the vertical, broad-jumped 10 feet 4 inches, and posted a seven-flat 3-cone.
Cummings’ report leans into the separation profile. “The 5’11”, 190-pound Williams is a natural-born separator with rare throttle and angle freedom as a mover, and his lightning-level twitch aids him both as a route technician and a RAC weapon,” Cummings wrote.
“He doesn’t have the widest catch radius and does fall victim to focus drops at times, though 2025 was his best year yet at the catch point. Per TruMedia, he logged just a 2.8% drop rate and a 10.27% catch rate over expectation.”
The catch-rate-over-expectation metric is the underlying case for Williams. He’s a slot receiver who produced 10 percent above expected in a down Clemson offense. That number scales up better in the NFL than the raw yardage dip might suggest.
Williams broke out as a true freshman in 2022 with 56 catches for 604 yards and 4 touchdowns, earning Freshman All-America recognition. A 2023 injury wiped out most of his sophomore year and forced a medical redshirt.
He rebounded in 2024 with a career-high 75 catches, 904 yards, and 11 touchdowns, earning First-Team All-ACC. The 2025 regression followed what Rivers Lake Yacht Club reported as a hamstring setback and came amid what Cummings described as a “stark downturn” in the overall Clemson offense.
Quarterback Cade Klubnik, who threw the passes Williams caught, has his own Day 3 draft projection in this class. Williams wasn’t operating with an elite quarterback in his final college season.
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The durability concern is real. “Durability is an ongoing concern,” Cummings wrote, “but Williams’ dual-sided separation and RAC framework is tried and true at the NFL level.” Bleacher Report noted Williams “has battled nagging injuries since 2023, which caused him to miss games each season.”
Teams draft for the separation metrics. They pay Round 2 for them when they have the analytical indicators to back the tape. The bet on Williams is that the slot-specialist ceiling still produces a starter.
