Willis had one of the best individual defensive seasons in Miami Hurricanes history. He led Miami defensive linemen with 4.91 tackles per game (for a total of 59) and in tackles for loss with 18. Willis’ dominant season seemed primed to pay off by getting drafted somewhere between the second and fourth rounds.
Willis’ stock started to drop in the final mock drafts last week. In the four seven-round mock drafts Canes Warning examined last week Willis was projected to be the 103rd pick on average. That is still somewhere in the middle of round four. Few could have foreseen him dropping out of the draft.
The speculation over what happened over the weekend has run rampant. Some of the theories been from Willis being blackballed to rumors of unsubstantiated drug problems. The Miami fan base was not happy and figuratively threw darts at the wall as to why Willis was not drafted.
Manny Navarro also said that the NFL colluded to blackball Gerald Willis because Willis beat up some NFL position coaches son at U of Florida. I can’t wait for Coaches, GMs, and coordinators to start getting fired so I can spit on their misfortune.
— BD (@Betterduck) April 29, 2019
Manny Navarro of the Athletic Spoke with Willis father, Gerald II about why his son plummeted out of the draft. Gerald II had one of the most mature responses and a very positive outlook regarding GW III’s future. Navarro also highlighted that there were three big reasons for Willis to be undrafted.
His behavior issues at Florida, the injuries he had last season and Willis missing at least a pair of meetings at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis last month all played a role in Willis’ shocking decrease in value to NFL teams. The speculation that Willis was blackballed is invalid since he signed with the Ravens.