Draft Scout Snapshot: A closer look at the Broncos' picks: Round 1/28 -- Sylvester Wiliams, DT, 6-3, 313, North Carolina...The Broncos were surprised that Williams fell to them, but when he did, they declined trade offers and pounced. He continues John Elway's trend of leading off with a pass rusher; he opened the 2011 draft with Von Miller, who lines up at defensive end half the time, and picked defensive tackle/end Derek Wolfe with his first pick last year. Williams, who had six sacks and 25 pressures last year, will likely back up Terrance Knighton and Kevin Vickerson right away, but could be worked into the Broncos' sub packages to boost the interior pass rush and take pressure off Miller. - The Sports Xchange
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Draft Scout Sylvester Williams News
04/29/13 - A closer look at the Broncos' picks: Round 1/28 -- Sylvester Wiliams, DT, 6-3, 313, North Carolina...The Broncos were surprised that Williams fell to them, but when he did, they declined trade offers and pounced. He continues John Elway's trend of leading off with a pass rusher; he opened the 2011 draft with Von Miller, who lines up at defensive end half the time, and picked defensive tackle/end Derek Wolfe with his first pick last year. Williams, who had six sacks and 25 pressures last year, will likely back up Terrance Knighton and Kevin Vickerson right away, but could be worked into the Broncos' sub packages to boost the interior pass rush and take pressure off Miller. - The Sports Xchange
04/29/13 - QUOTE TO NOTE: "I've been trying to for the last 12 hours figure out how I got to this point, but I think it's just all from dedication, hard work and working hard every day, and which I'll continue to do and continue to work hard at and to win games." -- First-round pick Sylvester Williams, reflecting on a path that took him from a radiator-parts factory in Missouri to community-college walk-on to the NFL - The Sports Xchange
04/29/13 - Broncos go with defensive choice again...The signature signings of John Elway's era as executive vice president have mainly been offensive: Peyton Manning, Wes Welker, Willis McGahee and Louis Vasquez. But all three of his draft classes have started with defense: specifically players that can rush the passer: Von Miller in 2011, Derek Wolfe in 2012 and on Thursday night, North Carolina defensive tackle Sylvester Williams with the 28th pick in the first round. Williams' pass-rushing numbers don't match that of defensive ends, but he finished last year with six sacks and 25 quarterback pressures in spite of playing most of the season on a sprained ankle. He also allowed the Broncos a chance to address a position that had long gone ignored at the top of the Broncos' draft class; it had been 16 years since they selected a defensive tackle in the first round.
In 1997, that tackle was Trevor Pryce, and he became a Pro Bowler and an eight-year starter on the defensive line. Like Williams, he was taken with the 28th pick coming off a season in which the Broncos finished 13-3 but collapsed in a divisional-round upset. But the similarities stop there. "This guy's a little bigger than Trevor. I think they're different types of player," Elway said. "Trevor was more of a pass-rushing, lighter, type, quicker guy, but Sylvester's very quick and sudden. I think Trevor was more of an outside guy, the three-technique that could really penetrate. I'll tell you, I hope he has the career that Trevor had. Then we'll be in really good shape." - The Sports Xchange
04/29/13 - Elway and coach John Fox didn't expect Williams to be available when they picked. The Broncos ran through multiple mock drafts early in the week, and Williams fell to the Broncos in none of them. They figured that if Williams fell outside of the top 20 picks, that he wouldn't get past the Vikings, who held the 23rd and 25th selections. But when Florida defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd plummeted from a potential top-five perch down into the 20s, the scenario changed. Oakland bypassed Floyd to take University of Houston cornerback D.J. Hayden, and the general slide of defensive tackles to the middle of the first round gave the Broncos a crack at Williams. "If anything changed, it was Hayden moving up and Floyd sliding, which is what pushed Sylvester to us," Elway said. - The Sports Xchange
04/29/13 - The Broncos had a chance to trade down, Elway said, but refused once they knew Williams would be available. "Once Sylvester was there, we just said, 'You know, we're going to stay here, this is the guy we want,'" Elway said. "We were thrilled that Sylvester was there, so we were not going to move."
By the time the 25th pick arrived, the Broncos felt comfortable with their options, with Elway citing Williams, cornerback Xavier Rhodes and defensive end Datone Jones as draft options. They believed the Texans wouldn't be in consideration of any of that trio at the 27th pick, so they felt comfortable with their potential options. "We knew we were going to get one of those; we didn't know who it was going to be," Elway said.
When Rhodes went to the Vikings and Jones to the Packers at 25 and 26, respectively, the decision was made. Williams will immediately slide into the defensive tackle rotation along with Kevin Vickerson and Terrance Knighton. He could push one of the two out of the starting lineup, but if not, he could be used primarily as an interior pass-rushing threat next to Wolfe when the Broncos go into their nickel and dime packages. "He's got short-area quickness, he's got good size, excellent body control, which you're looking for," said Fox. "He's got decent-length arms, so he's got all the physical tools that takes. Hopefully that carries over into production." - The Sports Xchange
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