Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Buried: New England Patriots’ Kyle Williams Faces Massive Uphill Battle

Starting point is 00:00:00 If Kyle Williams is going to make an impact in 2026, he's got some herculean work ahead of him to get there. This is Locked-on Patriots. You are Locked-on Patriots. Your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host, Nick Cattels. On today's show, the latest on Gabe Accus's Health and Mack Holland's switching positions.

Starting point is 00:00:33 In the second segment, there's been a lot. to like early about several young players on this roster. But first, Kyle Williams has been buried on the deck chart to start this camp. I am hopeful. I at least was hopeful that Kyle Williams would find himself as wide receiver three on this football team by the time they kick off in Seattle week one on that Wednesday night. Yesterday's podcast, though, we talked about it. Kishon Booty is a human highlight reel early in this camp.

Starting point is 00:01:04 and he is pushing the Patriots to keep him on this roster, not trade him, and make changes at the wide receiver depth chart that maybe the Patriots did not want to make if you went back a couple of months ago. But here we are with Kishon Booty pushing the way he is, Kyle Williams, he's buried. He has started this training camp buried on the debt chart. Andrew Callahan posted on Monday. Kyle Williams looks like wide receiver seven. Williams took reps with Drake May earlier in the walkthrough, but when the offensive personnel were divided up late, he was not among the six receivers with May and the other offensive starters. Greg Bedard, after the walkthrough on Monday, wrote at Boston Sports Journal, the depth chart at wide receiver. And here's what Bedard had, A.J. Brown, Pop Douglas, Romeo Dobbs, Kay Sean Booty, Mack Hollins, Kyle Williams, and Efton Chisholm.

Starting point is 00:02:01 So Greg Bedard had Kyle Williams listed as his sixth receiver post walkthrough. Mike Giardy before Tuesday's practice in shells. Posted the following. For what it's worth, I counted 71 offensive snaps in team versus scout team on the first field. A.J. Brown had 42 reps. Mack Hollins and Romeo Dobbs, 36. Pop Douglas, 31. Kishon Booty, 27.

Starting point is 00:02:30 Efton Chisholm, nine, Kyle Williams, seven. So before Tuesday's practice in shells, Kyle Williams had seven reps against the scout team. A.J. Brown being first, no surprise. Mack Hollins, Romeo Dobbs at 36, Pop Douglas at 31, Kashon Booty at 27. So there is a steep, steep drop-off. after those first five guys, a steep drop-off, all the way down to seven reps for Kyle Williams. So what I did was I looked up last year's snap rate.

Starting point is 00:03:15 Mack Hollins played 60.5% of the snaps last year. He led the team. Kisham Booty was second at 55.48% of the snaps. Stefan Diggs, even though he was the best receiver, was third. in snap rate last year at 54.66. And then Kyle Williams was fourth with over 30% of the snaps, 30.7%. So Kyle Williams goes from the fourth most snaps at wide receiver last year in his rookie season to being an almost afterthought starting this camp.

Starting point is 00:03:56 So why is that happening? How is it happening? Well, Pop Douglas. Let's start with him. Pops increased involvement. If you look at the percentage of snaps through the walkthrough, right, until you got to Tuesday's practice in shells, Pop Douglas was out there for 43.6% of the snaps against the scout team.

Starting point is 00:04:21 43.6%. If you look at Pop Douglas's snaps in the regular season, and in 2025, he was at 26.3%. So so far, so far in camp leading into Tuesday's practice in shells, Pop Douglas was playing 43.6% of the snaps when last year he was only at 26.3%. So he's up, what, 17, 18% from last year's usage in this falls in line with what we heard. Now, I don't know how much, you know, through three competitive practices or whatever. I don't know how many snaps Pop Douglas took in last year's camp. I'm just going off of what he did last year during the season, right? In comparing that snap rate to what he's doing in

Starting point is 00:05:16 camp, his snaps going up, not really a surprise given what we discussed about Mike Vrable and Drake May's comments. During the offseason, both Brable and May said they wanted Pop Douglas to be more part of this offense. They wanted more pop in this offense, more snaps. So that's going to take away from Kyle Williams. The question that I have really is not Pop Douglas. It's Mack Hollins. Mack Hollins going into Tuesday's practice had the same exact amount of snaps as Romeo Dobs. Do you really need Mack Hollins out there that much? It's going to be 33 years old. you are investing a big chunk of money into Romeo Dobbs. Part of the reason you're looking at Romeo Dobbs was, you know, his versatility.

Starting point is 00:06:15 What you're trying to develop in Kyle Williams is his versatility. Mack Hollins getting as many snaps tied for the second most snaps against the scout team leading into Tuesday's practice. It just feels like that's too many snaps for Mack Hollins this early in camp. He's a veteran. year in this offense, knows what he's doing. So why is Mack Holland's getting that many reps in early camp? Why would the Patriots not give Kyle Williams some of those Mac Holland snaps? Does Kyle Williams not know the offense in year two?

Starting point is 00:06:58 Is he confused? Having problems picking up with the staff is putting down? I don't know. I don't know. But I do know it's going to be much tougher for Kyle Williams to get on the same page as the franchise quarterback if he's out there for seven reps. And Kyle Williams right now, you know, this is a massive climb. We're talking about somebody who is sixth or seventh on the debt chart. Don't get it twisted.

Starting point is 00:07:26 The Patriots, I don't think, are taking seven receivers into the regular season. One of these seven guys is gone. You might even argue taking a sixth receiver is a stretch. But if they take six, one of these two are out. In judging by the snaps early in camp, the battle is between Efton Chisholm and Kyle Williams. Now, of course, if Kayshan Bouty gets traded, then you change the math. If somebody gets injured, you change the math. But this is a massive, massive climb uphill for Kyle Williams.

Starting point is 00:08:02 to go from the seventh guy, maybe the sixth guy on the depth chart, to three or four. Very tough. Right now, if you were a betting man, you would say the best Kyle Williams could get to is the fifth guy. And that's going to be incredibly tough. AJ Brown's your one. Romeo Dobbs is going to play. No doubt Romeo Dobbs is going to play. Obviously, the amount of snaps given to Mac Hollins early.

Starting point is 00:08:32 in camp tells us that he's going to play. The way Kayshan Booty has started this camp, if he is on this team by the time you get to week one, Kishon Booty is going to play. And then you still have Pop Douglas. You're trying to increase his role. This Numper's game is hurting Kyle Williams. Hurting him. And if his ceiling is the fifth guy in that wide receiver room, for 2026, that's disappointing. It is disappointing. At worst, you were hoping that maybe he would fall forth on that chart.

Starting point is 00:09:18 And the only way he's going to be able to leapfrog multiple dudes in that room is if he absolutely cooks in the very limited reps he's getting. Or someone gets hurt, as I said, and he starts getting more reps. That's it. He's either going to cook in limited reps and force the Patriots hand to give him more reps or something is going to happen in camp that will create more reps. There is a lot of time left in camp, but this is not the kind of start that Kyle Williams wanted. I did not want to start this camp talking about Kyle Williams being seventh on the depth chart.

Starting point is 00:10:05 We'll see. Again, a lot of time left, but he has to really, really impress people to start making moves over the next couple of weeks. Thankfully, Will Campbell and other young players have shined early. Talk about that next. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by indeed. You know that feeling when you're overwhelmed at work and you just need one more reliable.

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Starting point is 00:11:26 Terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Thank you for making us your first listen and for being an everydayer. Fortunately, other young guys are. making much more impact early in this camp than Kyle Williams is. And a lot of it has to do with opportunity. I have a disclaimer, though. Before we get into this conversation, here is the disclaimer. Offensive linemen, defensive linemen, they are working without pads. We have to keep that in mind. Thursday changes everything. Thursday is scheduled to be the first padded practice of this training

Starting point is 00:12:10 camp for the Patriots. But here are some notes so far on the younger players. Will Campbell. Will Campbell was one of the top three storylines for us heading into this early camp. A lot of talk about Will Campbell in the offseason, the memories of the Super Bowl. Will Campbell early in camp has been showing signs of improvement. One-on-ones on Tuesday. Again, no pads. Be mindful. Evan Lizar posted Will Campbell won both his reps versus Draymont Jones and Brady Swinson. That's Braden Swinton. Greg Bedard posted at Boston Sports Journal about Will Campbell's day on Tuesday.

Starting point is 00:12:57 Here's what Greg Bedard wrote. The Patriots did one-on-one pass rush drills at more of a two-thirds speed. Really liked the Swinson rep as Campbell was aggressive, went out and got him, and showed a forceful punch to shut him down. A lot of Campbell's issues stemmed from him sitting back and quote unquote catching pass rushers. So when you are in your pass protection set, if you kind of take that step back, couple steps back and let the edge rusher come to you and you catch him, so to speak, that's one way that you can pass protect.

Starting point is 00:13:36 another way is that you are the aggressive one. You go out and you get that pass rusher. You go out and you punch him in the chest, the two-hand punch in the chest to either negate the pass rush and keep it even or even try to push him back. And so what Greg Bedard is writing here is that in the Braden Swinson rep in the pass rush drill, Swinson was going to attack Will Campbell with his speed.

Starting point is 00:14:10 And instead of Will Campbell laying back, like we saw pretty much all of last year, and catching Swinson on the rush, Campbell went out to Brayden Swinson. He went out to him and had that forceful punch to shut him down. He was the aggressive guy in the one-on-one. And as Badaard noted, Will Campbell catching pass rushes last year got him into a lot of trouble against the better pass rushers who were too strong.

Starting point is 00:14:46 Because Will Campbell was giving too much room. He was allowing some of the better pass rushers in football to build up ahead of steam. And so he's getting pushed back. He's getting barreled over at times because he doesn't have that momentum going forward. He's going backward and he's allowing some of the better pass rushers with that full head of steam to just go right into him. So you have to combat that. And this is about technique.

Starting point is 00:15:21 You know, pads are no pads. This is about the mindset. This is about the technique, your approach. and if Will Campbell, who did a lot of work in the offseason with some of the best offensive linemen in football, if Will Campbell is going to change his approach and be more aggressive and establish that punch, he should theoretically be better in pass protection. Greg Bedard wrote, Campbell pancaked Milton Williams on a nice Ramandre Stevenson run while tight end Tanner Arkin helped to open up the hole. pancaking Milton Williams. I don't care if it's by accident. I don't care if it's pads or no pads.

Starting point is 00:16:03 Whenever you can pancake Milton Williams to me, that is noteworthy. How about Caleb Lomu? Caleb Lomu is getting good reps. We talked about the idea of managing Morgan Moses. This is like the anti-Kyle Williams. You're managing Morgan Moses so much that Caleb Lomu is going to get his fair share of reps in this camp. And he is passing the early tests.

Starting point is 00:16:30 Evan Lazar on Lomu's one-on-ones. Good showing for Lomu at both left tackle and right tackle. He had wins over Elijah Ponder and Draymont Jones. Lazzar had Lomu on the day with four wins between his time at left tackle and right tackle. Greg Bedard had Lomu winning three of his four one-on-ones. Vodar wrote Lomu took Moses's reps at right tackle. He was 2 and 0 on the right side. Then he later took two reps at left tackle and finished one and one.

Starting point is 00:17:06 And, you know, all you want is steady progress from Caleb Lomu. You know, given his physicality that needs to ramp up, his body that needs to be built up, that raw ability. If he is showing signs, then that's good. If he's out there winning one-on-ones, that's good. Again, we'll see when the pads come on Thursday at that practice. But right now, if you're looking at it, it sounds like Caleb Lomu is giving you everything that you want to see him give you this early in camp.

Starting point is 00:17:46 Jared Wilson, another young offensive lineman. Lots of eyes on Jared Wilson's transatlantic. transition from guard to center. The early signs, again, early, but they're good. Greg Bedard wrote about Jared Wilson after the walkthrough on Monday. The judgment for a lot of positions will come when the pads go on, as I was just saying. But so far, I like Jared Wilson as center, as I did when he came out of college. He's very quick getting to the second level.

Starting point is 00:18:15 And if you think about Jared Wilson, he is set up to succeed here. He's going back to his natural position, and he's booked. ended by Elijah Vera Tucker and Mike Owenu. Having those two guys bookending you puts you in a position to succeed. So the early signs Will Campbell technique looks better. He looks good. Caleb Lomu looks good, maybe slightly ahead of where you would think he would be. Jared Wilson looks good. We all have to be prepared for every single one of those three guys to fall off a cliff when the pads come on, but I can only tell you what they've done up to this point. The last podcast I highlighted Eli Raarden.

Starting point is 00:19:01 He's looking good as a pass catcher early in camp. And then Mike Vrable told us that the offseason awards, who won the offseason awards, Williams, Williams, Williams, and Jared Wilson. All of those guys, obviously part of the sophomore class. all of them from that 2025 rookie class. And that is an example of the system and the culture working. Every award winner this offseason was a second year player. That's taking care of business.

Starting point is 00:19:43 Meanwhile, Braden Swinson, if you're wondering, he wasn't on the offseason awards list, but he told the media and the media could tell by just looking at him, but he told the media earlier this week that he went from 270 pounds to 255 pounds. I'm a broken record, but Mike Frable, edge position, pass rusher, 250 to 255, that is the magical range. That's the fit. So Braden Swinson going from 270 to 255 in the offseason,

Starting point is 00:20:18 taking his nutrition much more seriously, preparing for the season. at a higher level. The rest of this camp is a long way to go. But before the first padded practice, there are a number of the young guys on this roster who are doing exactly what you want them to do or maybe even exceeding what you thought they were capable of doing this early.

Starting point is 00:20:48 So far, so good. Coming up, Gabe Accus reportedly withholds information and we entertain the idea of Mack Holland's switching positions. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Today's episode is sponsored by Square. If you've ever tapped to pay and thought, man, that was fast. It was probably Square. Whether you're selling lattes, running a packed game day spot,

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Starting point is 00:22:36 appreciate every single one of you. Mack Hollins at tight end. We'll get to that in a couple of minutes, but first we do have a Gabe Accus update from Greg Bedard, who wrote, I asked another AFC team what they had on Accus's medicals. At the Combine Medical Checkup, Accus was mostly healthy, but he did nothing besides the 40. He gave a hamstring as the reason.

Starting point is 00:23:01 The same excuse was used at his pro day. It was. It was disclosed to teams on April 4th that he had a shoulder injury, a laboral tear, that would need to be addressed, i.e. surgery. His left knee was never disclosed to teams. So there it is. According to an AFC source, Gabe Ackis never.

Starting point is 00:23:28 disclosed the left knee issue. Here's what the executive said to Greg Bedard. Quote, the knee thing looks like something that happened after the combine slash pro day circuit. The knee thing was unknown until June, unquote. Bedard writes, it's unknown when the knee thing, quote, unquote, happened. But it's understandable the patriots were obviously upset about. the situation.

Starting point is 00:24:01 The player giving a team three-year injury waiver is virtually unprecedented. So the player giving a team a three-year injury waiver, as we discussed earlier in the week, you don't really see it. So just a couple of questions before we get to Matt Collins. Was this the agent's call? Did the agent decide to not disclose this knee injury and subsequent looks like surgery? was that the agents doing? Was Gabe Accus just listening to the agent?

Starting point is 00:24:40 Another question I have, did the Patriots demand the waiver because of mistrust? Do they not trust Gabe Accus to be transparent with them moving forward while he's on this contract? So because of that mistrust, they want to build in some extra protection with the knee? or do they want that protection? Did they get that injury waiver in the contract because of what the knee looks like? Is the protection because of the trust factor between the player and the team? Is the demand to have that injury waiver because of the imaging and the Patriots are now fearful of what they saw? It could be both.

Starting point is 00:25:30 Moving on to Holland. could Mac Hollins play tight end this year? Karen Grigian at Mass Live wrote, how about making more use out of Mac Hollins who can be a big slot receiver or a bit of a hybrid tight end? Josh McDaniels utilized Hollins in that role at times when they were in Las Vegas together.

Starting point is 00:25:50 There were also some signs of that last year, so why not give that a whirl and at least see how that shakes out in camp? Hollins possesses the size and stature of a tight end. asked Sunday about his vast skill set and the possibility of doing more work in line as a tight end, Hollins sounded game for whatever the coaching staff cooked up. Just keep him in the same role.

Starting point is 00:26:15 I don't know why we're trying to reinvent the wheel with Mac Hollins. Just keep him in the same role. Keep him where he was last year. He was good in his role last year. I don't want to tweak. I don't want to tinker with Mac Hollins. You know what you have in Mac Hollins. He is very studied in this offense because of his time, as Karen Grigian wrote, in Vegas, because of his time in the system.

Starting point is 00:26:45 Last year, you found a good role for Mac Collins. You found a productive role for Matt Holland. Now, you might play him less this year, given what you have on the roster. Maybe not, given what we just talked about in segment one when he's tied for. the second most reps at receiver early in camp. But I would just keep him where he was and keep him where he's been. And I understand, you know, 6-4-221, people will say he's got the size to play tight end. Not consistently.

Starting point is 00:27:21 I mean, are we talking about like one or two snaps? If so, what's the point? Would you not rather give those snaps to Eli Raarden or Tanner Arkin? help those guys develop quicker. I mean, Matt Hollins is 221 pounds. I mean, we have to appreciate the fact that that is 28 pounds lighter than Hunter Henry. We talked about Eli Raarden having to put weight on to play tight end at the NFL level, right?

Starting point is 00:27:54 We talked about he needs to add about five pounds. Some would say even 10 pounds. Eli Rairden, who is seen as undersized to play tight end right now, is 24 pounds heavier than Matt Collins. You want to talk about Tanner Arkin, the big bruising blocking tight end that has the inside track of fitting that tight end three roll? Tanner Arkin weighs, let me do the math. 41 more pounds than Mac Hollins. Mac Hollins is 221. Tanner Arkin is 262 pounds.

Starting point is 00:28:40 40 pounds. So while Mac Hollins is a big receiver and might be able to sneak in and play a snap or two at tight end, he's 30, 35, 40 pounds lighter than guys playing the position. Not only is he undersized when it comes to weight and dramatically undersized. He's also 33 years old this year. Do you want an undersized 33-year-old dude playing tight end for you? It's just too physically demanding.

Starting point is 00:29:18 I appreciate Matt Collins being up for anything. I appreciate the idea to kick around. But the guy needs to put on 25 to 30 pounds if he wants to play that position consistently, which really begs the question, like, is there really much difference? I mean, he was kind of a quasi tight end last year with his inline blocking. So like, just just play him at the same, play him in the same role. But the idea of like him playing tight end, like, and if you, if you are going to move him to tight end or play him more in that role, then you're wasting wide receiver reps right now.

Starting point is 00:29:57 Like, give Kyle Williams more reps. if Mack Hollins is going to change his role in any tangible way. But I just don't see it. He's going to be the big slot. He's going to block in line as the big slot receiver. He's going to play occasional snaps, I'm sure, on the boundary as the X guy, occasionally. But for people saying,

Starting point is 00:30:20 why don't you just move Mac Hollins to tight end because he's a big receiver? Yeah, he is a big receiver. But to compare him to tight ends, it's a different world. Put on 30 pounds. then that conversation happens. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C. Radio. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe on YouTube.

Starting point is 00:30:42 And thank you for making Lockdown Patriots your first listen. For your second listen, check out Lockdown NFL scouting. Kyle Crabs and Joe Marino will make you the most informed NFL fan this offseason. Find Lockdown NFL scouting on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Have a great day. We'll see you next time.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Buried: New England Patriots’ Kyle Williams Faces Massive Uphill Battle

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