Williams the next Peppers?

Williams the next Peppers?

Star pass rusher top defensive end

BY CARL KOTALA
FLORIDA TODAY
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He always wanted to be a running back, but at some point, Mario Williams had to face facts.

"I guess I was a little too big for that," the former North Carolina State defensive end told reporters at the NFL combine.

Instead of being the next Barry Sanders, the 6-foot-7, 295-pound Williams will have to settle for being considered the next Julius Peppers and, most likely, the first defensive player to come off the board in this weekend's NFL Draft.

The Houston Texans, who own the No. 1 pick, have reportedly opened contract negotiations with two players -- Williams and USC running back Reggie Bush.

Houston is expected to take Bush, but Williams won't have to wait long. New Orleans could take him at No. 2. The New York Jets are a possibility at No. 4 and there is virtually no way he will fall out of the top 10, making him the highest defensive end taken since Peppers went No. 2 to Carolina in 2002.

"It's actually an honor,' Williams said of the Peppers comparisons. "He's a great player. Just to be compared to somebody like that, I take that very highly. I'm thankful."

It's not hard to see why the Texans would consider taking Williams. Players like this don't come along very often.

Not only does Williams have tremendous size, but he's a natural pass rusher with incredible natural athletic gifts and the ability to change a game on any snap. He can play virtually anywhere on the defensive line -- save for maybe nose tackle in a 3-4 -- and can also fit into a 3-4 scheme as a rush linebacker.

As a junior, he had 13 sacks and 23.5 tackles for loss.

"I can do whatever," Williams said. "I can play the 3-4. I can play the 4-3. If you want me back at linebacker I can do that coming off the edge. My main goal coming into this was to be versatile and let the teams put me where they want to. It's all about the team, put me where I fit in."

That's a challenge any defensive coordinator would like to take on, especially after the numbers Williams posted at the combine. He ran a 4.71, turned in 35 reps in the bench press
and had a vertical jump of 401/2 inches.

"I don't know if you had a chance to see him, but he looks like what you draw up," Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson told reporters at the combine. "You want him to get off the bus first."

If there is a knock on Williams, it's that he doesn't always play hard. However, when properly motivated, he doesn't have a peer in this draft -- not even his teammate, Manny Lawson, who had a pretty good career at N.C. State himself.

"(Who is the) better end? Better looking is me hands down," Lawson joked at the combine.

Lawson, a potential first or second-round pick himself, actually hosted Williams when he made his recruiting visit to the NC State campus. Since then, the two roomed together and created havoc together.

"I would say I was like a smaller, bigger brother," the 6-5, 238-pound Lawson said.

Come draft day, Lawson will be looking up -- again -- at Williams. Wherever he goes, he's got the potential to be a Pro Bowl player for years to come.