William Bradley-King NFL Draft Overview
Position: Edge
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 252 pounds
School: Baylor
William Bradley-King 2021 NFL Draft Profile
William Bradley-King didn’t have the strongest start to his college career. He wasn’t good enough or interested in playing at the FBS level. But in 2016, the opportunity came to play Division I-A football. He redshirted his first season with the Arkansas Red Wolves. In 2017, he became a rotational defensive lineman.
The following year, he established a larger role on defense for himself. He played in 12 games, starting three and produced 33 total tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss and 5.0 sacks. He added on 2 forced fumbles, a pass deflection and a fumble recovery.
His full-time starting role came in 2019. He dominated the Sun Belt Conference. The edge defender earned his first-team All-Sun Belt recognition.
Bradley-King chose to transfer to the Baylor Bears for his redshirt senior season. He anchored the defensive line, leading in pass deflections and tying for lead in sacks.
His hard work paid off – he could definitely stand up against Big-12 competition. In December, he earned an invite to the Reece’s Senior Bowl. There, he peaked on Tuesday but lulled on Wednesday and Thursday. Despite this, his practice report stated he had “tremendous success in quantifying and confirming” his explosiveness and bend with his length.
Bradley-King is a long and massive edge defender. His length enables him to be a powerful anchor in the running game. He stays clean while possessing disruptive potential. He has a lot of power inside his frame and that gives him leverage to exert power in forceful bursts. Bradley-King makes a threatening power rusher.
Athleticism is somewhat lacking despite having a nice foundation of size and power. Consistency seems to be an issue – he shows flashes of exceptional explosiveness, but at times doesn’t bring enough momentum to control his power. He often uses slow, long strides, rarely coming off the line with good foot speed.
While he has natural power and the measurements a good edge rusher should have, his skill set is one-dimensional. His hand speed and precision are not yet refined.
Strengths
- High football IQ;
- Maniacal rush motor up to the top of the rush;
- Uses his wingspan to bat at linemen’s arms when rushing at edge;
- Has natural play strength, a threat as power rusher;
- Excellent leverage out of three-point stance;
- Flashes of pass-rush skill, shows speed off the edge;
- Always targets throwing arm, creating strip sacks;
- Impressive start-stop in changing direction.
Weaknesses
- Easily controlled at the point by a single opponent;
- Can be explosive, but can’t seem to control his power;
- Get knocked easily by initial hit;
- Not enough foot speed off the line, strides are too slow and long;
- Struggles in overtaking blocker when he gets behind early in the rep;
- Average twitch and athleticism.
Teams with need at the position: Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Baltimore Ravens, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks
NFL Player comparison: Oshane Ximines
Projected : Round 6
Bottom line on William Bradley-King
While he shows flashes of an ideal edge rusher, he lacks consistency. He needs to work on his foot speed and lateral transitioning, plus unlock his athleticism. He would be best suited to a 4-3 team. However with more weight, he is a potential 3-4 defensive end. This fact may help him in the draft.
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