Pro Football Focus (PFF) recently published a comprehensive breakdown of 2025 NFL rosters, including an X-factor for each team.
PFF named two former Clemson stars – Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams and Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackle Christian Wilkins – as the X-factors for their respective teams in 2025.
This offseason, Williams signed a one-year deal with the Chargers worth up to $6 million, returning to the team he spent the first seven years of his NFL career with after they made him the seventh overall selection in the 2017 NFL Draft.
Coming off a season-ending ACL injury in 2023, Williams signed a one-year deal with the New York Jets in March 2024 after being released by the Chargers. He was later traded from the Jets to the Pittsburgh Steelers before the November NFL trade deadline. Across 18 games with the Jets and Steelers, the 6-foot-4, 218-pounder posted 21 receptions for 298 yards and one touchdown.
Williams, who has been a dynamic wideout and big-play threat since entering the league, has piled up 330 catches for 5,104 yards and 32 touchdowns across 106 career NFL games to date. His 15.5-yard receiving average is the second-highest by any player with at least 250 catches since he entered the NFL in 2017.
“Williams is back with the Chargers after an uninspiring season with the Jets and Steelers, during which he earned a 59.6 PFF receiving grade,” PFF’s Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman wrote. “That was the first time he garnered a sub-70.0 PFF receiving grade since his rookie year in 2017. Now that he’s back in Los Angeles, he’ll look to revive his career and be a reliable No. 2 option behind Ladd McConkey.”
As for Wilkins, following an outstanding tenure with the Miami Dolphins to begin his NFL career, he agreed to a massive four-year, $110 million deal with the Raiders ahead of the 2024 season, making him the second-highest paid defensive tackle in the league.
The 6-foot-4, 310-pounder recorded 17 tackles (two for loss), two sacks and six quarterback hits over five games with the Raiders last season before suffering a broken foot. He was placed on injured reserve after undergoing surgery for a Jones fracture.
A 2019 first-round pick (13th overall), Wilkins spent the first five years of his NFL career with the Dolphins and amassed 355 tackles, 20.5 sacks and 43 tackles for loss over 81 career games (77 starts) during his time in Miami.
“Las Vegas inked defensive tackle Christian Wilkins to a massive four-year, $110 million deal last offseason, but he played only five games before suffering a season-ending foot injury,” PFF wrote. “If he can bounce back and show why he was worth that money, it would take pressure off Maxx Crosby and improve a unit that earned the league’s sixth-worst PFF pass-rush grade in 2024.”