Patriots' rookie Kyle Williams is fortunate to have numerous veterans around him in the locker room whom he can look up to for support and advice. Fellow wide receiver Stefon Diggs, who happens to be Williams' childhood hero, is among them.
Williams never believed he'd have a chance to call the wide receiver he looked up to as a youth a teammate, but Williams and Diggs will be spending the next season - and perhaps beyond - sharing the same huddle.
Diggs is a good role model for Williams to have, given that Diggs has developed a reputation as one of the league's best route runners during his career, which has produced multiple 1,000-yard seasons. The Patriots hope Diggs can replicate this success, and Williams can mold himself into a similar player.
"He was just different. He was crafty," Williams told MassLive's Karen Guregian as to why Diggs was his hero. "I mean, there was something about him that stuck out to me. I just gravitated towards it."
Can Stefon Diggs and Kyle Williams be a lethal receiving duo?
The way the first several training camp practices have shaken out, Diggs and DeMario Douglas appear to be the 1-2 in terms of the Patriots' wide receiving depth chart. As for who can emerge into that No. 3 role, can Williams look up to his boyhood hero, of whom he used to watch on film when Diggs played at Maryland, as far as who to mold his own game after?
"It's been a blessing. He's my favorite receiver," Williams said. "Being right next to him is just a (god-given) gift."
Williams' talents are certainly a gift from upstairs and the Patriots were blessed enough to be able to secure him in the third round of the draft, hoping he'll provide some juice to a receiver room that was dismal at best the last two years.
If Williams continues to look up to his boyhood hero, that's a good start. He's living his dream by playing alongside Diggs, and the two of them could make New England's offense dangerous, especially if second-year quarterback Drake Maye can take the expected sophomore year steps.