Alabama Crimson Tide wide receiver Ryan Williams is great with the ball in his hands. Unfortunately, getting the ball into his grasp has been an all-season problem.
Williams has nine drops in 12 games this season. He missed one 2025 game due to injury. Going back to the 2016 season, the only other Crimson Tide player with nine drops in a season was Calvin Ridley. Ridley's nine drops were in a 15-game 2016 season. His college career total is 16 drops.
Williams' drop rate last season was not good at 8%; third worst for an Alabama receiver, going back to 2016. This season, his drop rate is much worse at 13.6%. For receivers hoping for a successful NFL career, up to a 7.5% drop rate is considered solid potential.
After a drop by Williams in the SEC Championship Game, Kirk Herbstreit said, " I don't feel like he's ever been a natural ball-catcher. Like he just doesn't seem to have those natural hands."
Williams has 90 pass receptions in his Crimson Tide career. He has 42 this season for 631 yards, but only a combined two receptions from the Auburn game and the second Georgia game. He has two touchdown passes dropped against Georgia this season. The drop in the SEC Championship Game came on a pass that could not have been thrown any better.
As a team, Alabama has dropped 6.3% of targeted passes. The stat is not great, but six drops in the SEC Championship Game were far worse; the drop rate was 15.4%.
Alabama Crimson Tide needs explosive plays by Ryan Williams
An Alabama team that is at best inconsistent running the ball must maximize its passing game. Combine leaky pass protection with dropped passes, and no quarterback can produce many touchdowns. Against Auburn and Georgia, Ty Simpson's completion rate decreased to a combined 53.1%. He made some bad throws and some bad reads, but the drops and the Tide's pass protection were bigger problems.
Simpson is known for being his harshest critic. At the same time, the drops could weigh heavily to the extent that he could become hesitant to target Williams. Alabama will need solid performances from both Simpson and Williams to have Playoff success. Alabama needs Williams to be more than a decoy when he is on the field.