The Vikings’ Roster Offers a Mysterious Mammoth
Can’t teach being 6’7″, folks. Toss on being a heavyweight — listed at 291 pounds — and Alexander Williams is one of the most fascinating players on the Vikings’ roster.
Already, we’re talking about someone who is 25, older than the normal rookie by at least a couple of years. Digging into his background leaves one with some gaps in knowledge. He wasn’t a highly-touted prospect going into the draft, but the Vikings still included him in their UDFA haul. What’s a realistic evaluation of Williams, a player with mammoth size but who is a mystery to most?
The Vikings’ Roster:
Alexander Williams & The Offseason Competition
Previously, there has been some chatter about a different player with huge size: Tyler Batty.
Similar to Williams, Batty is entering the competition in Minnesota as an older rookie who was scooped up among the undrafted players. The critical difference is that Batty played for BYU and assembled some impressive statistics. In five seasons at BYU, Batty snagged 224 tackles, 16.5 sacks, 34 tackles for loss, 2 interceptions, and 3 forced fumbles.
Oh, and another thing: Batty earned some impressive guaranteed money. A beefy $259,000 in guaranteed cash was baked into his deal, per Aaron Wilson.
The details around Alexander Williams aren’t nearly no straightforward.
For starters, the defensive lineman shifted around college programs with some regularity. He put in work in three different spots: Ohio State, Vanderbilt, and then Middle Tennessee State. In other words, the defender began with a college football powerhouse in the Big 10 before going to a program in the SEC before finishing off with a little-known program in CUSA. An odd journey, to be sure.
Add it all together and Williams was involved in college football for a whopping seven seasons, but he missed all of 2023. Consider some of the blurb on the team’s website says: “Played for Ohio State from 2018-19 before transferring to Vanderbilt for the 2020-22 seasons. Did not play football in 2023. Spent his final season at Middle Tennessee in 2024. In August of 2024, the NCAA granted him a seventh year of eligibility.”
A strange detail surrounding Mr. Williams is that he’s probably pretty raw. A seven-year college player who is 25 should come out more refined, but that may not be the case with Williams. He played in just 6 games last year, picking up 8 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 0.5 sacks. No one is going to be blown away by those numbers, but there was an injury. The team’s website indicates that “his final college ride was upended by a torn Achilles in October.”
Put things in the most glib terms possible. Coming off a major injury, Alexander Williams is a little-known UDFA who got added among a batch of roughly 20 players after a long college career that saw him drop from a top-tier program to one that most haven’t heard of. Oh, and he struggled to produce at the collegiate level. Why is he getting a shot in the NFL?
Well, let’s bring it back to the details up top: we’re talking about a defender who is listed as being 6’7″ and weighing 291 pounds. Any chance Brian Flores can work with the new addition, pushing the raw player to a point where he could one day use that unique build to be a menace on the field?
So far, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah has failed to nail the defensive end position. All of Dean Lowry, Esezi Otomewo, Jerry Tillery, and others have failed to shine. In the 5th, Tyrion Ingram-Dawkins got added, someone coming from a major college program and who has talent aplenty but modest production. He’ll be tasked with developing behind Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave.
Working behind the scenes, as well, will be the mysterious Alexander Williams. Best case is likely that the defender snatches a practice squad spot. The simple fact that he’s so huge, though, piques one’s interest, especially since he’ll slot into a position where Minnesota could use some help.
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K. Joudry is the Senior Editor for Vikings Territory and PurplePTSD. He has been covering the Vikings full time since the summer of 2021. He can be found on Twitter and Bluesky (@VikingsGazette). If you feel so inclined, subscribe to his Substack, The Vikings Gazette, for more great Vikings content.