It’s easy to lose sight of him, and that’s saying something because, at 6-3, 290 pounds, he would be hard to miss, but when you’re surrounded by men just as large, if not larger, and oozing with just as much talent, if not more, well then, yeah, it’s easy to get missed.
Except he won’t get lost here, not in our rankings of the top-25 Philadelphia Eagles currently on the roster.
Since the countdown wound its way inside the top 20, there has been a run on defensive tackles. Now comes another:
DT MILTON WILLIAMS
The third-year player from Louisiana Tech, drafted in the third round in 2021, enters the rankings at No. 16.
The process behind the top-25 list started with Eagles beat writers Ed Kracz and John McMullen putting together their own top 25 players independent of each other’s rankings and then assigning point values, with 25 points awarded to the player ranked first on each list, 24 to the player ranked second, and so on, with one point going to the player that was put 25th.
The highest ranking from either reporter breaks any ties in the ballot.
Williams totaled 19 points, with 10 coming from McMullen, nine from Kracz, which means Williams was ranked 16th overall by McMullen and 17th by Kracz.
The Eagles are led at defensive tackle by veteran Fletcher Cox, but they have replenished that group in recent years, drafting Williams in 2021, Jordan Davis in 2022, and Jalen Carter in 2022.
Davis and Carter both cracked the top 20 in our rankings.
Here they are so far:
No. 25 – Running back Kenny Gainwell
No. 24 – Linebacker Nicholas Morrow
No. 23 – Safety Reed Blankenship
No. 22 – Safety Terrell Edmunds
No. 21 – Kicker Jake Elliott
No. 20 – Linebacker Nakobe Dean
No. 19 – Defensive tackle Jordan Davis
No. 18 – Defensive tackle Jalen Carter
No. 17 – Running back D’Andre Swift
In the team’s media guide, Williams lists his father as the biggest influence in his life.
“He was always there for me and my sisters,” Williams said. “He’d be at our games all day and get like two hours of sleep and then go to work. Just seeing how he worked, it still drives me to this day.”
Williams could be ready to hit overdrive this season.
He has played all 34 games since entering the league, though his snaps decreased slightly last year when he 395 of them (36 percent) compared to 456 (41 percent).
His production, however, went up.
He had 36 tackles, four sacks, and nine tackles for loss in last year’s Super Bowl run. Two seasons ago, when he played more, he had 30 tackles, two sacks, and six tackles for loss. In both years he had six quarterback hits.
All his numbers could be on their way up.
Ed Kracz covers the Philadelphia Eagles for SI's EaglesToday.
Please follow him and our Eagles coverage on Twitter at @kracze.
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