Kyle Williams knows the math in Patriots camp is working against him right now.
Through four practices in Foxboro, the second-year receiver has been stuck well down the depth chart, with A.J. Brown, Romeo Doubs, Kayshon Boutte, Mack Hollins, DeMario Douglas and Efton Chism all getting work ahead of him.
On Tuesday, in a non-padded session, Williams didn’t get a single rep alongside Drake Maye in seven-on-seven or 11-on-11 drills. His only catch came from Tommy DeVito, while a target from Behren Morton hit the ground incomplete.
For Williams, there’s no point pretending he can control the pecking order.
“It’s just, control the controllables,” Williams said after practice. “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 make the most of it.
But I don’t really have expectations. I just show up every day, ready to take advantage of the opportunities given to me.”
That’s a different spot than the one Williams occupied as a rookie, when the third-round pick out of Washington State flashed real big-play juice. He caught touchdown passes of 33, 37 and 72 yards from Maye last season, but the production never really settled in. Williams finished with 10 receptions on 21 targets, then added two more catches for 14 yards in the playoffs.
He said one area where he feels better now is at the line of scrimmage.
“Definitely my physicality at the top of routes, off-the-line releases,” Williams said. “I definitely feel confident in that. There’s obviously more room for improvement, but those are things that I feel a lot more confident in than last year.”
Last season, Williams lined up wide on 87.1% of his snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. More than half of his routes were vertical, per Next Gen Stats. This summer, he’s trying to prove he can do more than stretch the field.
“Obviously, the more you can do, the more opportunities given,” he said. “So for me, a big thing that I was trying to emphasize this year was expanding my role. I wanted to be able to move from slot to outside, and be able to have those opportunities to expand and show off my different skill sets.”
The problem is that the Patriots’ receiver room has been reshaped, and the competition is crowded. New England released Stefon Diggs, then brought in Doubs via trade and signed Brown, both expected to start this season. Boutte, who was seen as a possible trade piece after those moves, has stayed in place and has been one of the team’s best performers in the first week of camp.
Williams didn’t hide his admiration after Boutte hauled in a contested 50-yard touchdown on Tuesday.
“That dude is unbelievable,” Williams said.
Hollins is back after leading Patriots wideouts in snaps last season, and Douglas and Chism remain in the mix as slot options. All six of those receivers have been ahead of Williams so far, and the battle doesn’t stop there. Undrafted rookies Dobe Prentice, Nick DeGennaro, Cameron Dorner and Kyle Dixon are also in the room, and New England usually keeps six receivers on its 53-man roster.
Williams said that kind of competition has pushed him to sharpen everything.
“I mean, iron sharpens iron at the end of the day,” Williams said. “So when you’ve got guys like AJ, Pop (Douglas), Mack, I mean, from the top down, these dudes can play. So it just forces you to come out here and compete at a higher level and not have no slack in your game.”
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