Two touchdown receptions in two seasons. The number catches your attention like a Paris Hilton off to jail headline. Vikings wide receiver Troy Williamson, the seventh player selected in the 2005 NFL draft, has been experiencing self-inflicted “restraints,” not able to break loose and fulfill the hype that followed him out of South Carolina after his junior season.
Prior to the draft a prediction expert even said Williamson was the best player available. His extraordinary speed and explosive bursts were going to ease the loss of Randy Moss for 2005 and beyond. Instead, Williamson has produced two touchdowns; both in his rookie season, and developed a well deserved reputation for dropping balls.
Dean Dalton was a Vikings assistant coach when Williamson was drafted. Now an NFL media expert, Dalton was asked last week if the coming season could be career-ending if Williamson, 24, doesn’t change his performance.
“Well, no,” Dalton answered. “He’s still a very young receiver but it’ll be a huge year for him to rejuvenate his career. He took a huge hit from the fans and all the pundits because he had a sub-par year. …His first year here he had an excellent technical coach, Wes Chandler, teaching him how to be a receiver because he was so raw coming out of the University of South Carolina. And then he didn’t get the same detail oriented teaching a year ago when he really needed it. If you look at his track record his rookie year, he improved as the season went on. He only had two drops the entire year and at the end of the year he was making explosive plays.
“Last year he had numerous drops and his confidence level just fell off the cliff. What you saw there was that he had self doubt and he was so raw that his technique work was poor. Now he’s got another teaching style position coach in George Stewart which I thought was a great off-season move by (head coach) Brad Childress. …He will maximize Troy’s physical talents and help him become a receiver. …”
Dalton said that in 2006 there were expectations Williamson could become the team’s No. 1 receiver. The team lost Nate Burleson to free agency before the season and neither Koren Robinson nor Williamson emerged as Burleson’s successor. “So that No. 1 hole was then forced upon him (Williamson) and he wasn’t ready as a receiver to take that spot,” Dalton said. “He’s a good speed complementary guy. A good No. 2 and that’s where he belongs. So now he’s back in that role and that should help him.”
Can he become a No. 1? “Yeah. I think he has all the potential in the world and he has the work ethic,” Dalton said. “He’s a good kid who is gonna stay passionately committed to improving himself as a football player. … “
Dalton talked to Sports Headliners after he had watched Williamson at the team’s mini-camp last Friday. Dalton credited the Viking organization with supporting Williamson during the off-season including with eye tests. He said Williamson caught thousands of balls and impressed him with his work ethic. All of that, and with the addition of Stewart’s coaching, likely will produce “a much more mature and more refined Troy Williamson this year,” according to Dalton. “I saw just today his confidence level is back to where he was as a rookie,” Dalton said.
Was Williamson worth the No. 7 pick in the 2005 draft? “He could justify that pick with his improved performance because he’s such an explosive athlete,” Dalton said. “He can bring a dynamic to the offense that was sorely needed a year ago and he wasn’t able to do it. Hopefully he can bring that dynamic…to this offense next year.”