Patriots WR who ‘comes from nothing’ predicted for NFL stardom catching passes from Drake Maye

The New England Patriots have a new receiver who may quickly develop into a fan favorite.

The Pats took Kyle Williams out of Washington State with the No. 69 overall pick.

He finished his college career with 10 catches for 172 yards and a touchdown in the Holiday Bowl.

“As a person, you’re not going to get much better. We had an opportunity to get him at a really pivotal time in his life, and he just developed so much with us,” WSU coach Jake Dickert told ESPN. “He needed Pullman, Washington, as much as we needed him.”

Williams began his college career at UNLV, then transferred to Wazzu in 2023 to play with Cam Ward.

“The character and work ethic are the things that stick out the most — a small-school guy in inner-city L.A., really under-recruited, kind of a needle in a haystack,” former ULV coach Marcus Arroyo told ESPN.

In three seasons at UNLV, Williams had 117 catches for 1,568 yards and nine TDs.

Then in two seasons at Washington State, he had 131 catches for 2,040 yards and 20 TDs.

Arroyo had nothing but praise:

“Those (NFL) guys want to know, ‘Are they blue-collar guys who show up early and stay late? Will they be team-oriented? Are you going to have to worry about them off the field?’ Those are the ones I was able to answer dramatically, and stand on the table and say, ‘This guy is all football, he comes from nothing, put himself in position to make the NFL.'”

The Patriots will be hoping to see Williams rise to stardom sooner rather than later a possible new favorite target of second-year QB Drake Maye.