Maxx Williams is widely considered the top tight end prospect in the 2015 NFL draft and a quick review of his bloodlines helps explain why.
His father, Brian, was a first-round draft pick in 1989 and played 11 seasons as a center for the New York Giants. His grandfather, Robert, played quarterback at Notre Dame and was taken in the 1959 NFL draft but opted to attend medical school at the University of Pittsburgh.
His maternal grandfather and uncle each played football at Minnesota where Williams starred for two seasons before declaring for the draft. His mother, Rochelle, played volleyball at Minnesota.
“We like to say in our family that my mom's the most athletic,” Williams said at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. “Both my parents were elite athletes. It really helped me growing up.”
Williams is only 20 and still has much growing to do, which adds to his allure for teams, like the Steelers, in need of tight ends.
The 6-4 Williams caught 36 passes for 569 yards and eight touchdowns last season, and he expects to get to get bigger after playing at just under 250 pounds in 2014.
“I feel like my biggest weakness could turn into one of my strengths, as I turn 21, 22, and get those years and experience in the weight room developing my body,” said Williams, who redshirted his first season at Minnesota. “I could be 250, 255, 260 [pounds], just however my body develops.”
The Steelers would be crazy not to have serious interest in Williams, who can block after playing in a run-oriented offense at Minnesota and is athletic with soft hands.
It is not quite ready to find Heath Miller’s successor in Pittsburgh. But Matt Spaeth, who also starred at Minnesota, and Michael Palmer are both set to become unrestricted free agents on March 10.
And the Steelers need to get younger at the position even if one or both re-signs with the team.
Williams is seemingly an ideal candidate to groom for a few seasons under Miller, and offensive coordinator Todd Haley is creative enough to work two pass-catching tight ends into the offense.
The question is whether the Steelers would draft a tight end in the first round with more glaring needs on the other side of the ball.
NFL Network Mike Mayock projects Williams as an early second-round pick, but the latter is hoping to match the accomplishment of his father, who grew up right outside of Pittsburgh and graduated from Mount Lebanon High School.
“Not many people can say they went in the first round [of the NFL draft] and so did their father,” Williams said, who is scheduled to work out Friday at the combine, “so having an opportunity to go in the first round, it would be a moment I would remember for the rest of my life.”
