Steelers Intensely Scout Do-It-All WR Prospect at Big 12 Pro Day
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receivers coach Zach Azzanni was in attendance at the 2025 Big 12 pro day this week, giving him an up-close look at one of the most interesting wide receiver prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft class, TCU’s Savion Williams
Receivers from all of the Big 12 schools were in attendance at the combined pro day in Frisco, Texas, the second year the conference has had a combined pro day for all of its schools.
This season, the top draw of the players in attendance was the TCU do-it-all receiver. The Steelers have shown significant interest in Williams, bringing him in for a pre-draft visit to Pittsburgh on March 14. Now, Azzanni went all the way to Texas to check out one of the most interesting prospects in the draft class.
Williams is a 6-foot-4, 222-pound wide receiver that was expected to be one of the top receivers available to the Steelers in the 2025 NFL Draft class. But Williams had an underwhelming senior season with the Horned Frogs in 2024. He had 41 catches for 573 yards and four touchdowns in 2023. This season, he had 60 more receptions but totaled just 611 yards and six touchdowns.
He was, however, used much more as a ballcarrier. Williams had 11 rushes for 62 yards in 2023. This past season, he rushed 51 times for 322 yards and six more touchdowns.
TCU mostly used him as a Wildcat quarterback, but at the 2025 NFL Combine, Williams also worked out as a running back in addition to wide receiver.
The Steelers made significant use of backup running back and kickoff return Cordarrelle Patterson in the 2024 season, and while Patterson is a potential salary cap casualty this offseason, there could be a ready-made replacement waiting for the Steelers in the 2025 NFL Draft in Williams
Patterson took a similar career path to Williams. The first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in the 2013 NFL Draft, Patterson had a wide receiver’s body at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds. But he found inconsistent success at the NFL level as a receiver, and it wasn’t until a move to the running back position with Chicago six years later that his NFL career really started to take off.
Patterson spent three seasons with Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith with the Atlanta Falcons, being used as do-it-all offensive weapon, lining up as a running back, wide receiver and also returning kickoffs.
He reprised that role for the Steelers in 2024, but whether it was the new kickoff rules, or simply Patterson now being 33 years old, the kickoff part of his duties were a struggle in 2024. Patterson’s average yards per return fell from 21.9 in 2023 to 21.8 in 2024, but the league average jumped from 23.0 to 27.6. Of players with at least three kickoff returns, Patterson finished dead last in average yards per return.
The Steelers have already made one addition at kickoff returner, by signing former Philadelphia Eagles running back Kenneth Gainwell, but they will likely need two. With Jaylen Warren becoming the starting running back, the team probably won’t want him returning kickoffs, as well.
Patterson is owned $2.8 million in 2025, none of which is guaranteed. A release would cause the Steelers to incur a $950,000 dead cap hit, and the team would net $2.8 million in savings.
Williams is generally considered to be a third-round pick, and could be a solid option for the Steelers at No. 83 overall in that round, especially if they pick a defensive lineman with their first choice.
Williams wasn’t the only prospect that Azzanni got a good look at in Frisco. He also got a chance to get a first-hand look at three Colorado receivers that are all on our Steelers 2025 NFL Draft Big Board: Jimmy Horn Jr., LaJohntay Wester and Will Sheppard.
Horn is a 5-foot-8, 174-pound slot option. Wester is bigger and more slender at 5-foot-10 and 163 pounds. Both ran a 4.46-second 40-yard dash at the combine. Sheppard, who was not invited to Indy, checked in at 6-foot-3, 203 pounds and ran a 4.59-second 40 in Frisco.
Wester was the most productive of the three at Colorado last season, finishing with 74 catches for 931 yards and 10 touchdowns. Sheppard had 48 receptions for 621 yards and six scores. Horn had 37 grabs for 441 yards and one touchdown.
All three Colorado players are projected to be late-round picks, with Horn rated No. 236 on the NFL Mock Draft Database consensus big board, just after the Steelers’ seventh-round pick at No. 229.
UCF wide receiver Kobe Hudson is No. 233 and another seventh-round option, while Baylor’s Monaray Baldwin, Kansas’ Quentin Skinner and Lawrence Arnold, converted WVU quarterback Garrett Greene, Utah’s Dorian Singer and Money Parks, Arizona State’s Xavier Guillory and Melquan Stovall, Texas Tech’s Josh Kelly, Oklahoma State’s Brennan Presley and Kansas State’s Dante Cehpas — a Pittsburgh native — are all currently projected as undrafted free agents.
The trip to the Big 12 pro day was the second of the cycle for Azzanni. He also went to the Tennessee pro day earlier this month, primarily to scout big day three pick Dont’e Thornton.