Fresh start needed?
Putting this thing to knowat the end felt important. Williams was a mid-round pick and finally settled in after a few seasons. Shortly after, he suffered a serious knee injury and missed most of 2018. Last season, things didn’t go well in his first full year back. Overall, he graded at a 56.1 in Pro Football Focus’ grading system last year. That’s a bad, bad grade and he was benched at times. He allowed 12 sacks and 35 pressures.
But here’s the silver lining: Williams might really just need a fresh start somewhere, mentally. As pointed out, Panthers fans were harsh on him. Plus, he battled what he quite literally called “demons” last year.
After suffering such a bad injury, it was something Williams couldn’t get off his mind at first, and perhaps never did. Prior to last season, he discussed how the mental recovery from such an injury was much more difficult than the physical recovery.
“It’s definitely [tougher] mentally, definitely mental. I feel like I talk to myself a lot more when I’m out here… just to, get those demons out of my mind. Those bad thoughts. It’s definitely mental,” Williams told reporters.
Williams did say his knee felt “great” after the injury at the start of the season, but he also admitted he wasn’t sure when he’d feel 100 percent about everything mentally.
“I don’t know, I don’t think you can answer that as a player. I feel like I’ll know when it hits me, you know? When everything is clicking I’ll know when I’m good and I’m not thinking about those bad thoughts,” Williams said.
All things considered, maybe a fresh start and a full offseason’s worth of healing right now before he joins the Bills for training camp will do him wonders.
Wes Horton versus Daryl Williams. pic.twitter.com/zF8v7VbIaU
— Joe Person (@josephperson) July 28, 2018