Kyle Williams has spent this Patriots camp living on two different tracks.
On some days, the New England wideout has flashed exactly why the team took him in the third round last year - the kind of body control that shows up in one-handed end zone grabs and the speed that can tilt a defense. On others, he’s been buried lower on the depth chart, fighting just to get consistent reps in practice.
That uneven summer has turned what should have been a straightforward step forward into a more complicated test. New England’s crowded receiver room has made Williams one of the more closely watched names in camp, with outside chatter even wondering whether he could follow the path of Ja’Lynn Polk and get pushed out after a disappointing rookie season.
For now, though, the Patriots are still looking for ways to get him involved. And with the Indianapolis Colts coming to town, Williams finally gets a real chance to show it against another team before Thursday’s preseason game.
Head coach Mike Vrabel has spent weeks fielding questions about the receiver group and the possibility of keeping six or seven wideouts for the regular season. Kayshon Boutte’s status as a possible trade piece also hangs over the room, but Williams remains part of the discussion.
“Again, all these opportunities, and he'll continue to earn opportunities. I really, really know that Kyle is going to help us,” Vrabel said.
“His speed is going to help us. And I don't want to use this and get this to be overblown, and I'm going to use the word scheme or - He's got a skill set, right?
“We're going to find ways to get him the ball, and it may be outside of just the normal installation plays, but that's my responsibility, that's Josh (McDaniels)'s responsibility, that's Todd (Downing)'s, responsibility is to put him in those positions where we see the speed that showed up last year. And so, I know that he is going to be a large part of what we're going to do, and those opportunities will continue to come.”
That belief hasn’t yet translated into eye-popping production. As a rookie, Williams caught 10 passes in the regular season, and three of them went for touchdowns. Most of his work came as a deep threat, which fit his speed but didn’t fully unlock the rest of his game.
He spent part of the offseason adding a few pounds in hopes of broadening his role, but that has been tough to judge in camp because the ball hasn’t come his way all that often.
“His release skills, his speed, his vertical speed, those are all things that we have to continue to take advantage of as we progress,” Vrabel said. “And it's a great room.
It's a good competitive room. And by competing and getting out there every single day, those will by nature increase his opportunities.”
The spotlight around the Patriots’ receivers has mostly landed on A.J. Brown, Boutte, Romeo Doubs and DeMario Douglas. Williams, meanwhile, has mostly been discussed through the lens of where he stands in the rotation.
At one point during a walkthrough earlier this summer, he lined up as the WR7. On Thursday, he was working with the third-string group. That kind of movement doesn’t scream stability, even if it’s still hard to picture New England parting with the 23-year-old after only one season.
Williams says the approach has to stay simple.
“You don't know what is promised and what's not,” Williams said about his role on the team. “So, every day just coming up whether it's in the film room, meetings, on the field pre-practice, after practice, just doing extra stuff to give myself the advantage to take forth to these opportunities.”
The timing could work in his favor. The Patriots have three preseason games ahead - against the Colts, Eagles and Browns - and that gives Williams three chances to remind the coaching staff why he was a third-round pick in the first place.
He says the focus is on what he can control.
“It’s just control the controllables,” Williams said. “A lot of things are out of my control and when I get a chance to be able to control those things, I try to take the most of it.
But I don't really have expectations. I just show up every day just ready to take advantage of the opportunities given to me.”
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