Daryl Williams An O-Line Option For Eagles
Photo courtesy of USA Today
OK, it’s not quite on par with the Oregon bias, but the Oklahoma Sooners have established a nice little presence on the Eagles roster. Former teammates Sam Bradford and DeMarco Murray came aboard this offseason, joining 2013 first-round pick Lane Johnson. Oklahoma has pulled even with Cincinnati, Florida and USC (3) as the most well-represented school outside of Oregon (8).
Might another Sooner be added in the upcoming draft? Could be.
The Eagles are in need of reinforcements along the offensive line, and one player they are checking out is Oklahoma’s Daryl Williams.
Williams (6-5, 327) played mostly right tackle at Oklahoma. Named first-team All Big 12 in 2014, he was part of a standout O-line unit that yielded an FBS-low nine sacks this past season while paving the way for a rushing attack that averaged 261 yards per game.
He caught the attention of Eagles offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland, who spent some time in the film room and did classwork with Williams prior to Oklahoma’s pro day, then put him through drills on the field.
“He’s serious but he likes to mess around, get under your skin, and really likes to see if you’re paying attention and understand what he’s talking about,” said Williams of Stoutland.
“I definitely think [they’re interested], but you never know. I can only control what I can control.”
Williams has a reference inside the building. The former four-star recruit out of Lake Dallas High School was teammates with Johnson at Oklahoma, and the two remain tight. Williams noted that the Sooners ran a tempo offense during much of his time in Norman, and he’s well-versed in many of the blocking schemes the Eagles deploy.
Though he played tackle in college, there’s a chance that he would start his pro career at guard — an area of need for the Eagles in the short term.
“I really hope it happens. I think it would be cool to play with Lane, to play in Chip Kelly’s system, play with veterans like Jason Peters and play with former Sooners like DeMarco and Sam Bradford,” he said.
Williams is being told that he could go in the second or third round in this draft. The Eagles could be one of the teams tempted to pull the trigger.