NFL Draft 2019: 7-Round Mock Draft projections for every team

With the top two pass rushers off the board, the Raiders would be left with a tough decision. It wouldn’t at all be a reach to take Florida State’s Brian Burns here, and it would be hard to fault Oakland for doing so. Their number one draft priority is to improve a dormant pass rush that finished dead last in the NFL in 2018 by a wide margin.

The Raiders have many needs, though, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. They should take the best player available with this pick, and that’s Williams by a sizable gap. He would be terrific value with the fourth pick, and with two other first round picks, Jon Gruden and company could address the need for an edge rusher later on.

Finding a truly dominant defensive tackle can immediately elevate the quality of a defense. Williams broke onto the scene as a redshirt sophomore with Alabama in 2018, little known up until that point. He won the Outland Trophy as the nation’s top interior lineman, and was a consensus All-American.

He’s not an edge rusher, but he finished last season with eight sacks. He should be able to provide a disruption from the interior, making it easy for edge rushers to feast on the outside. He’ll command double-teams, and that’s often not enough to keep him from breaking through and wreaking havoc in the backfield.

Not only would Williams boost an anemic pass rush, he would immediately improve the run defense in Oakland. Williams has the potential to be an Aaron Donald/Fletcher Cox-like interior disruptor.