27 Days, 27 Picks: RB Cadillac Williams
In 27 Days, 27 Picks, Bucs Wire will analyze the last 27 Tampa Bay Buccaneers first-round draft picks, one for each day leading up to the 2023 NFL draft. We’ll take a look at the player’s college stats, their pre-draft numbers (either via the NFL Combine or their Pro Day), their NFL stats, some player footage and analysis at the end on whether the pick itself was a good one.
Our next player in the series was an electric running back at Auburn (a team he recently led to two wins as an interim head coach in 2022), but ended up being another cautionary tale about drafting running backs in the first round.
Check out the draft rundown on cadillac williams below:
College Stats
Photo by John Reed USA TODAY Sports (c) Copyright 2004 John Reed
Cadillac Williams played college football at Auburn. He was named to the first-team All-SEC team and was named an All-American in 2014.
Year | G | Att | Yds | YPG | TD | Rec | Rec Yds | Rec TD |
2001 | 9 | 120 | 614 | 5.1 | 6 | 13 | 140 | 0 |
2002 | 7 | 141 | 745 | 5.3 | 10 | 6 | 30 | 0 |
2003 | 13 | 241 | 1307 | 5.4 | 17 | 5 | 20 | 0 |
2004 | 13 | 239 | 1165 | 4.9 | 12 | 21 | 152 | 1 |
Total | 42 | 741 | 3831 | 5.2 | 45 | 45 | 342 | 1 |
Pre-Draft Measurements
Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports Copyright © 2005 Bob Donnan
Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand span | 40-yard dash | 20-yard shuttle | Three-cone drill | Vertical jump | Broad jump | Bench press |
5 ft 10 7/8 in | 217 lbs | 30 5/8 in | 8 1/4 in | 4.43s | 4.17s | 6.95s | 35 1/2 in | 9 ft 10 in | 19 reps |
Pick Selected
(Photo by Matt Stroshane/Getty Images)
Cadillac Williams was drafted by the Bucs with the No. 5 pick in the 2005 NFL draft.
Player selected before him: WR Braylon Edwards, Cleveland Browns
Player selected after him: CB Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, Tennessee Titans
NFL Stats
(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Cadillac Williams played seven seasons in the NFL, six for the Bucs and one for the Rams.
Year | Team | G | Att | Yds | YPC | TD | Fum |
2005 | TB | 14 | 290 | 1178 | 4.1 | 6 | 3 |
2006 | TB | 14 | 225 | 798 | 3.5 | 1 | 2 |
2007 | TB | 4 | 54 | 208 | 3.9 | 3 | 1 |
2008 | TB | 6 | 63 | 233 | 3,7 | 4 | 0 |
2009 | TB | 16 | 211 | 823 | 3.9 | 4 | 0 |
2010 | TB | 16 | 125 | 437 | 3.5 | 2 | 1 |
2011 | STL | 11 | 87 | 361 | 4.1 | 1 | 0 |
Total | 81 | 1055 | 4038 | 3.8 | 21 | 9 |
Pick Analysis
(Photo by Robert B. Stanton/NFLPhotoLibrary)
Much like we discussed with Doug Martin earlier in the series, Cadillac Williams is another cautionary tale about drafting a running back in the first round of the NFL draft.
Williams was electric at Auburn, but he also was already a workhorse there — he averaged almost 20 carries per game in his last two seasons with the Tigers, which already put some mileage on him. He had a stellar rookie campaign as a thousand-yard rusher, but it all went downhill from there after he suffered multiple injuries in his 2007 and 2008 campaigns.
He had a decent season in 2009 after returning and playing a full 16 games, but in 2010 the Bucs had another star running back — LeGarrette Blount, who the Bucs claimed off of waivers from the Titans in 2010. Williams was phased out until he was eventually released, where he finished his career with the Rams as a rotational back.
Long story short is that running backs have a tremendously short shelf life, and picking one in the first round is rarely going to work out.
