New England Patriots rookie Kyle Williams is expected to bring some much-needed oomph to a receiving corps that was the NFL’s most dreadful unit last season, and he already seems to be making quite an impression in Foxborough. Williams has generated considerable buzz ever since he was selected in the third round of the NFL Draft back in April and has also been a major topic of discussion throughout offseason workouts. Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel recently took Williams and the rest of the rookies to both Boston Red Sox and Boston Celtics headquarters to give them an idea of what the city is all about from a sports perspective, and Williams was left with a very clear takeaway. “It’s huge. You see Patriots everywhere. You see Celtics everywhere. Just seeing the love this town has for sports, it makes you want to give back and compete harder,” Williams said, via ESPN’s Mike Reiss. Williams hauled in 70 receptions for 1,198 yards and 14 touchdowns during his final season at Washington State in 2024, establishing himself as one of the better receivers in the country. The 22-year-old actually spent the first three years of his collegiate career at UNLV before transferring to Washington State after 2022. He went on to catch 61 passes for 843 yards and six scores in his debut campaign with the Cougars. Now, Williams is tasked with helping to fix a wide receiver room that completely lacked any explosiveness or nuance last year, and while he certainly isn’t the only addition New England has made at the position, he may very well be the most important one for the future. The Baltimore native will have a chance to grow with quarterback Drake Maye and form a lethal one-two punch moving forward, but it all starts with Williams ingratiating himself to the franchise and the fans. Make sure you bookmark New England Patriots on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns, and so much more! Matthew Schmidt is a sportswriter who covers NFL, MLB, NBA and college football and basketball. He has been writing professionally since 2011 and has also worked for Bleacher Report, FanRag Sports, ClutchPoints, NFLAnalysis.net and NBAAnalysis.net. He was born and raised in New Jersey and has a rather eclectic group of favorite teams: the Boston Celtics, New York Giants and Miami Marlins.