Peter King of CNNSI.com writes that Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Mike Williams is starting to pull himself together after a rocky early NFL career.
Mike Williams (the Seattle one) grows up. "I’m 26 now,‘’ Williams said after his first NFL start in three years Sunday, Seattle’s rout of the 49ers. "The game’s a little more important to me now than it was when I first came in the league.’’
Absence from the game made the 6-5, 233-pound Williams’ heart grow fonder. His poor practice habits and laissez faire approach to games got him canned from the league after only seven starts over four frustrating years; he’ll always be known as one of the receivers Lions GM Matt Millen has on his NFL résumé — or tombstone.
I asked Williams if he’d seen Millen or any of the Detroiters responsible for taking him high in the 2005 draft. "I’m not sure they’d want to talk to me,’’ he said. But Pete Carroll, his old college coach, gave Williams a last shot this summer, and the ’Hawks liked how he played so much that they cut rich free-agent T.J. Houshmandzadeh. The four-catch, 64-yard performance Sunday by Williams was only the third 50-plus-yard game of his career. Watching his route-running Sunday, he appears to be a big target with fluid movements of a man four or five inches shorter. Could be a great find.
The name of the NFL game is week-to-week consistency. Williams is the type of player that you root for with cautious optimism.