‘Hello, hello?! This is Kyren Williams!’: A behind-the-scenes look at draft day for the Notre Dame running back
Fresh off his second season with more than 1,000 rushing yards, Notre Dame running back Kyren Williams was making the move to the next level. Entering the NFL Draft, the projected Day 3 selection had various levels of interest from teams across the NFL but none more so than the Baltimore Ravens.
“Baltimore had six picks in the fourth round,” Williams said on the latest episode of the Varsity House Podcast, which is hosted by former Notre Dame defensive back Shaun Crawford. “So I’m going into Saturday thinking I’m going to Baltimore. They were the ones showing me the most love and had been texting with me, meeting with me. I had good talks with the running backs coach.
“So I’m thinking ‘I just have to wait for this call.'”
What Williams did not know at the time was there would be a fair amount of waiting. The shifty 5-9, 195-pound back sat watching as the Ravens made their way through the six fourth-round picks. He watched his phone like a hawk. No one called. His head began to fill with doubts as the sixth and final selection of the round came.
“I’m like ‘Dang, if they don’t call here, then who’s going to pick me?'” Williams recalled. “I had nobody. I hadn’t really talked to anyone else on the board that hadn’t already gotten a (running) back.”
Still no call. It was a very different scenario from the one the former Irish back imagined for himself, especially given at certain points last season his name was in the Heisman conversation and he was talked about as being a Day 2 pick. Running backs rarely go the first round these days, so being chosen on the Friday of the NFL Draft is a very high honor.
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Dejected, Williams watched the first few selections of the fifth round. Around came the 164th pick, one which belonged to the Las Vegas Raiders. They had just taken former Georgia running back Zamir White in the fourth round. There was no way they’d take Williams in the fifth.
“I put my phone down,” Williams said.
Moments later the Los Angeles Rams traded up to grab the 164th selection. Williams’ phone started ringing.
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“I got my phone, I answered it, and it’s not working at first,” Williams said. “I’m like ‘Of course this would happen to me. When they call my phone is going to disconnect. I’m not going to get the call.'”
Williams hung up the phone and called back as fast as he could. He got an answer.
“I’m like ‘Hello, hello?! This is Kyren Williams!'”
The running back was laughing while retelling the story to Crawford, but he sure did not find it funny in the moment. Thankfully for him, he was able to reach the Rams coaching staff. They informed Williams he was the newest member of the team.
From then on it was a blur for the St. Louis native. Obviously, the Rams were in St. Louis from 1995-2015, Williams’ entire childhood. His idol was former Rams running back Steven Jackson. He once dressed up as him for Halloween. As of that moment, he, too, was a Rams running back. It was surreal.
“It was just all emotions,” Williams said. “One phone call changed my life. That’s crazy. Think about it.”
