Mike Williams, Deshaun Watson build case at Clemson pro day
At Clemson’s pro day, one of the biggest unknowns of the draft season checked off a box.
Wide receiver Mike Williams, a projected first-round pick, didn’t run the 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine in late February, but he posted times of 4.49 seconds and 4.5 seconds – very quick for a player of his size – Thursday at the Tigers pro day in Clemson, S.C.
Those were the times posted by the school’s athletic department on the video boards, which are usually fairly generous.
According to NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, a scout in attendance texted him times measured on the scout’s stopwatch at 4.56 seconds and 4.58 seconds.
“It felt good,” Williams said on the ACC Network broadcast. “I mean, I just wanted to come out here and show everybody my 40 time. I had great speed. I feel like I did and my time was pretty good. I came out of today pretty well.”
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Quarterback Deshaun Watson, competing to be the first passer taken off the board in the first round of the NFL draft next month, did not run the 40-yard dash after he clocked in at 4.66 seconds at the combine.
Watson did, however, go through passing drills, where the focus was to show him taking snaps from under center. Watson played the majority of his snaps in Clemson’s offense out of the shotgun, though he is expected to need to play from under center at the next level.
Watson gained considerable buzz after the combine when he excelled in throwing drills, though he did miss on the placement of a few of his throws Thursday, and appeared to be thrown off by the rhythm and timing of routes after taking snaps from under center. He misfired on eight of about 50 throws.
“It was pretty solid,” Watson said on the ACC Network broadcast. “I missed on a couple of throws, a Bang-8 to the left and a speed deep dig to the right, but today was pretty solid. It felt good, felt comfortable. All I really wanted to show was that I could work under center and do professional stuff if they ask me to do it, and that I can make the throws when I need to.”
Another highly-touted Clemson prospect, defensive tackle Carlos Watkins, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.98 seconds and 5.02 seconds, posted a nine-foot broad jump, and leapt 28 inches on the vertical leap.
Three head coaches, Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Mularkey of the Tennessee Titans and John Fox of the Chicago Bears, attended the pro day in person.
Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter @LorenzoGReyes.
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