Chicago Bears NFL Draft Target: DE Mykel Williams

Jordan Prather - USA Today Sports

Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - 9 hours ago

The Chicago Bears have the No. 10 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. After trading for two guards, their strategy with this pick may have changed as it now seems more likely they will go after a defensive lineman such as Mykel Williams.

Williams played all three years of college ball with the Georgia Bulldogs and was part of their 2022 National Championship team. He led the team in sacks that year with 4.5, including one in the National Championship game. He consistently got in the backfield, as over 30 percent of his career tackles resulted in a loss. Williams finished his collegiate career with 21.5 tackles for loss and 14 sacks.

Last season, Williams had a career-high nine tackles for loss and five sacks. He also had a career-high in forced fumbles with two. The only player who recorded those kinds of numbers for Chicago last season was edge rusher Montez Sweat, who had 5.5 sacks and nine tackles for loss last season, along with two forced fumbles.

Physically, he is very similar to Swea,t as Williams is just one inch shorter and two pounds lighter than Sweat. Thus, he seems to be a good fit to play opposite Sweat.

However, there are some downsides to him as a prospect. Per NFL analyst Lance Zierlein, his pass rush needs to be developed, and he has sometimes struggled in the run game. Zierlein attributes this to needing more playing time, although Williams played 40 games during his time with the Bulldogs.

Given his positive attributes, such as his explosiveness, quickness, and ability to infiltrate the backfield, he is still one of the top players available in this deep defensive line draft class.

The mock drafts are pretty inconsistent about where Williams may end up. According to the NFL Mock Draft Database, some mock drafts have him as high as the No. 7 overall pick, while others have him going No. 32 overall to the Philadelphia Eagles.

However, multiple mock drafts, including Tom Fornelli with CBS and Chris Kwiecinski with FOX 32 Chicago, have him going to the Chicago Bears.

Unfortunately, Williams did not participate in any of the NFL Combine drills. However, according to NFL Next Gen Stats, he has one of the highest overall scores among defensive ends at the Combine. His athleticism score was also among the top 20.

Next Gen Stats predicts that Williams will become a good starter within two years, which would be incredibly valuable to the Bears, who need a long-term pass rusher solution.

Free agency offers many potential pass rushers for Chicago to pursue. However, most of these players are near the end of their careers, making them short-term solutions that could also serve as mentors to a young player like Williams, who could benefit from being around seasoned NFL veterans like Sweat.

That is why the Bears would make a lot of sense to draft a player like Williams with the No. 10 overall pick and sign a defensive end in free agency.

Chicago has requested that Williams be interviewed as part of its Top 30 for the NFL Draft, which starts on Thursday, April 24, and is being held in Green Bay.