Tag: Antonio Williams

How Bills RB Antonio Williams is honoring his late grandfather through NASCAR

We talked to Buffalo running back Antonio Williams about why he became a sponsor in NASCAR.

Growing up in North Carolina, Buffalo Bills’ Antonio Williams loved NASCAR in large part thanks to his late grandfather, who died last year.

And now, the 23-year-old running back — who’s coming off his rookie NFL season and recently signed a reserve/futures contract with the Bills — is more than a fan of racing.

Days before the start of the 2021 NASCAR season in February, Williams announced his partnership with driver Joe Graf Jr., who’s now in his second season in the second-tier Xfinity Series. He joins New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara as another NFL player to sponsor an Xfinity team or driver. Williams declined to specify the details of his investment.

Williams said he’s been to all four NASCAR race weekends so far this season, and he hopes to get to as many as possible before Bills training camp begins this summer. The running back also was the Grand Marshal for the third-tier Truck Series race last weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

With Graf, Williams said he’s working to recruit more sponsors and connect them to boost the driver’s resources. When Graf’s team, SS Green Light Racing, announced last month a new sponsor this season in Z Grills, it described William’s role in that deal as “instrumental.”

For The Win recently spoke with Williams about his love for NASCAR, his future in the sport and working with Graf.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

How did you first get into watching NASCAR?

I grew up watching it with my granddad, and he passed in August. And I wanted to do something in NASCAR to honor him, and that led to everything with Joe. It’s definitely taken off. I think the fact that I’m doing this to honor him is a big reason.

I don’t know if you believe in fate or destiny or everything happening for a reason. But honestly, I truly believe everything happens for a reason, and me getting involved with NASCAR to honor my grandad is the reason it’s going so well right now.

Watching NASCAR now, why are you drawn to it, just because it’s so different from what the racing world calls “stick and ball” sports?

NASCAR is very strategic, and I don’t think a lot of people understand the strategy within it. They don’t get that manufacturing matters, they don’t get that sponsors matter, they don’t get that side of it. I like to observe that and take notice of how drivers drive, how they take drafts, moves they make and key moments. That’s just so exciting to me.

Did you have a favorite driver growing up?

I did, Tony Stewart.

Are you invested in Graf personally or with his team, SS Green Light Racing?

Joe personally, but I’ll obviously help with SS Green Light in any opportunity I can get. What I really want to do is help Joe excel in the sport and continue to learn the business of NASCAR because my goal is to own a team eventually. So this is leading me to that, I believe.

In the Cup Series or at any level?

Any level at this point. Obviously, the Cup Series is the highest, but everybody’s got to start somewhere. I’m a guy that I want to be the best in anything I do, [and] what I can do is build up and learn and get knowledge from that and work up to become the best possible Cup owner.

Do you see your commitment to Graf as something that’s just for now or a long-term thing?

Honestly, I see this being a long-term deal with me and Joe. Partnership, friendship wise, we’re around the same age. We’ve got a very similar story, that journey. We both didn’t have the rookie year that we wanted. This second year, Joe’s [14th] in points right now, and that’s a huge jump from where he was last year.

Did you always want to be a NASCAR owner or sponsor, or was this something that came to you after your grandfather passed?

In all reality, the lifelong dream was to be a driver. But now that I’m in business side of it, I’ve fallen in love with that ownership part. That’s something that I think I’ll be very good at, honestly, because I’m good with connections. I’m good with noticing or seeing potential in guys, and I’ll be able to help build a team that will be successful in NASCAR.

Especially on the owner and sponsorship side, a lot is happening in NASCAR this year. Do you feel like the sport is changing?

There’s a new demographic coming to NASCAR in the fans. And that whole situation with Bubba [Wallace] last season, that made people want to get more interested. That’s beneficial, so I definitely think it’s changing and in a better way. I think it’ll be more innovative. I think there’ll be more ideas to change that will have benefit the sport in the long run. …

With Alvin and myself, I think it brought some people to look at it who have never watched NASCAR. After we announced that I was partnering with Joe, there were so many people that were talking about how they had never watched NASCAR. But because of that, they are. That’s just a little glimpse of what’s happening, and the diversity will just continue to grow.

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Buffalo Bills sign 13 players to reserve/future contracts

The Bills signed 13 players to reserve/futures contracts. Those roster transactions were announced by the team on Tuesday. The full list includes: WR Duke Williams RB Antonio Williams QB Davis Webb RB Christian Wade S Josh Thomas DE Mike Love WR …

The Bills signed 13 players to reserve/futures contracts. Those roster transactions were announced by the team on Tuesday.

The full list includes:

  • WR Duke Williams
  • RB Antonio Williams
  • QB Davis Webb
  • RB Christian Wade 
  • S Josh Thomas
  • DE Mike Love
  • WR Jake Kumerow
  • CB Dane Jackson
  • WR Tanner Gentry
  • DT Brandin Bryant
  • TE Nate Becker
  • OL Trey Adams
  • DE Bryan Cox Jr.

Of these 13, eight appeared on an active game day roster for the Bills in 2020. Those include Bryant, Cox, Jackson, Kumerow, Love, Thomas and both Williams. Jackson and Kumerow made the largest impacts of the bunch.

A reserve/future contract guarantees that a player cannot be signed by another team. It goes into effect once the new league year begins and will count towards the next season’s salary cap and 90-man roster for the offseason and training camp.

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Bills call RB Antonio Williams, CB Dane Jackson up from practice squad

Buffalo Bills RB Antonio Williams, CB Dane Jackson called up from practice squad for Ravens game, Devonta Freeman, Kenny Stills not.

The Bills called up two players from their practice squad on Friday, one day ahead of their AFC Divisional round matchup with the Ravens. The team announced that the pair is running back Antonio Williams and cornerback Dane Jackson.

In turn, that means running back Devonta Freeman and wide receiver Kenny Stills, two players who were signed by Buffalo, were not called up. They will continue to wait to make their Bills debuts.

On that same idea, bringing Williams and Jackson up from the practice squad is not a guarantee either will even play for the team on game day. In recent weeks the team has called players up but left hem inactive on game day.

Williams and Jackson, both rookies, have made their debuts for the Bills already this season and have impressed in brief spurts.

On the running back, Bills head coach Sean McDermott did say either this week that TJ Yeldon, not Williams, would be the No. 2 behind Devin Singletary in Buffalo’s backfield in lieu of Zack Moss’s ankle injury. At cornerback, the Bills have had no recent injuries, but Jackson has found his way on the field for the Buffalo five times already this season.

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What Bills’ Sean McDermott said about signing Devonta Freeman

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott on signing RB Devonta Freeman.

The Buffalo Bills threw a curveball into their running back decision on Tuesday and it goes by the name of Devonta Freeman.

Buffalo (13-3) added the veteran free agent rusher, who was recently released by the New York Giants, ahead of their Divisional round matchup against the Baltimore Ravens (11-5). That decision came on the heels of Zack Moss (ankle) being placed on injured reserve.

Moss was dinged up against the Indianapolis Colts in the Bills’ 27-24 Wild Card round win. Most point to and assume Devin Singletary, who was splitting carries with Moss, will take on No. 1 duties. But that still means he needs his backup, a guy who could see playing time himself vs. the Ravens.

Freeman gives the Bills an intriguing option and Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott said his experience having to defend against Freeman personally in the past made him a desirable addition.

“I had the unfortunate opportunity to go against him in the NFC South for a number of years so I had a front row seat to witness what he’s capable of doing. Bringing him into the running back room I think was a good move by Brandon (Beane). He adds to what we have and we’ll try to get him up to speed as quickly as possible,” McDermott said via video conference.

Naturally the biggest question with Freeman potentially playing is can he get up to speed? That’s a big ask in a few days, the Bills didn’t feel comfortable enough last week with forcing wide receiver Kenny Stills to do so… as he, like Freeman, was a late-season addition to the team’s practice squad.

“It’s a lot of information to digest in a short amount of time,” McDermott added. “That’s kind of the biggest challenge.”

One to always try to keep his opponent guessing, McDermott will not be revealing what the team will do. The decision comes down to Freeman, TJ Yeldon and Antonio Williams, who like Freeman is also on Buffalo’s practice squad.

“TJ Yeldon has played in a lot of games and at a high level and you take it all the way down to Antonio and what we saw him do a few weeks ago,” McDermott said.

Really we won’t have any idea what McDermott will do until about just before 7 p.m. on Saturday.

On Friday is when the Bills will likely make any callups from the practice squad. Still, even if McDermott decides to call up Freeman, Williams, or both, 90 minutes before kickoff teams announce their inactive lists for a game. The Bills have previously called up players and still left them inactive on game day.

So nothing in regard to the No. 2 running back spot will be fully settled until game day. Looking back on the way the Bills handled Stills, it would be a surprise to see Freeman get such a quick callup, but the coach, at minimum, left that option on the table as of Wednesday.

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Jordan Devey not Antonio Williams replaces Zack Moss on Bills roster

Buffalo Bills sign OL Jordan Devey from practice squad, not RB Antonio Williams. Make Devonta Freeman signing official.

The Buffalo Bills confirmed a few roster moves on Tuesday ahead of their Divisional round meeting with the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday.

Running back Zack Moss (ankle) officially had his season come to an end. He was placed on the team’s injured reserve list. Taking his place on the team’s 53-man roster was offensive lineman Jordan Devey.

Positionally, Antonio Williams could have been the player most pointed to on the Bills practice to replace Moss on Buffalo’s roster. Williams impressed in the Bills’ season finale against the Miami Dolphins with two touchdowns and is the one of only two running backs on the team’s practice squad (Christian Wade).

Instead it’s Devey, who was only active once on game day in 2020. In Buffalo’s Wild Card win over the Indianapolis Colts, Devey was called up from the team’s practice squad but was inactive on game day.

However, despite not signing to the 53-man roster, Williams can still be called up from Buffalo’s practice squad ahead of their meeting with the Ravens (11-5), that won’t come till Friday at the earliest, though.

In addition, the Bills (13-3) officially announced the team signed running back Devonta Freeman to the practice squad as well. He’s also eligible to play vs. the Ravens, however, upon signing wide receiver Kenny Stills to their practice squad last week, Buffalo did not call him up from the taxi squad for their game vs. the Colts. That might be indicative of how the Bills would handle Freeman’s addition.

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Sean McDermott: Devin Singletary ‘capable’ to carry load without Zack Moss

Buffalo Bills head coach Sean McDermott updates running back situation on Devin Singletary, Zack Moss.

The Buffalo Bills rarely reveal any plans of theirs. Head coach Sean McDermott often keeps his cards close to his chest.

In regard to the latest news surrounding the Bills’ running back room, McDermott did let his guard down a tad.

Most would expect the next-man up to be second-year pro Devin Singletary. That appears to be confirmed, a bit, by the coach on Monday after McDermott confirmed the news that rookie rusher Zack Moss would miss the rest of the playoffs with an ankle injury.

“I told (Singletary) it’s his time to step up,” McDermott said via video conference. “This team is one hundred percent confident in Devin Singletary.”

“He’s very aware of that and more than capable,” McDermott added.

While the Bills coach did reveal a little nugget in there, it’s not the most shocking thing. During the regular season, Moss and Singletary had split snaps for the most part. After the midpoint of the year, Moss did start to see the slight edge on Singletary in terms of snaps played, but both guys were getting touches.

In 13 games, Moss averaged 4.3 yards per carry, putting up 481 total. Singletary saw his yards per carry drop from 5.1 a year ago to 4.4 in 2020. Moss led the Buffalo running back room with 687 yards, but didn’t miss time like Moss had. Singletary did feature as the Bills’ pass-catching back more than double the amount of Moss as well, notching 38 catches to the rookie’s 14.

Where the more intriguing decision lies is replacing Moss’s roster spot. In most cases during the season, when both Moss and Singletary were healthy, they were the only running backs active on game day. Behind them for most of the year was presumably TJ Yeldon.

Yeldon appeared in three games for Buffalo in 2020, Weeks 3-5, while Moss was injured. In that time, Yeldon had 10 carries for 70 yards with one catch for 22 yards, which also went for a touchdown. In Buffalo’s other 13 games, he was mostly inactive or on the team’s COVID-19 list for a brief time.

But since Yeldon’s time in the lineup, another running back has captured the hearts of those in western New York, Antonio Williams. Formerly an undrafted rookie this past offseason, Williams has been on and off of Buffalo’s practice squad all year. In Week 17 he was finally called up from the taxi squad and produced with a big game which included two touchdowns against the Miami Dolphins.

Finally there’s Christian Wade, the international who shined in the 2019 preseason.

McDermott mentioned all three players as potential replacements, perhaps in an effort not to give away too much intel to the Baltimore Ravens ahead of their Round 2 meeting on Saturday, but McDermott did add a little extra on Williams.

“We’ll look at guys on our roster that we have a lot of confidence in, T.J [Yeldon], Antonio [Williams], Christian [Wade]. We’ll take a look at what our options are,” McDermott said.

“He certainly popped,” McDermott mentioned on Williams.

The Bills could go numerous ways with their decision, but rolling with Singletary primarily would appear to be the smartest play on paper.

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9 studs, 3 duds in Bills’ 56-26 win over Dolphins

Studs and duds from the Buffalo Bills’ Week 17 win over the Miami Dolphins.

In terms of a top-to-bottom effort from a team in the NFL, it’s hard to get much better than the effort the Buffalo Bills gave against the Miami Dolphins in Week 17.

When the Bills (13-3) put their starters in? Great work. Then when the Dolphins (10-6) took on Buffalo’s backups? They still were too much for the visitors to handle.

After looking at the tape and letting the dust settle, here are nine studs and three duds from the Bills in their win over the Dolphins:

Duds

RB Devin Singletary

Both Devin Singletary and Zack Moss only had three carries in this one. Moss had eight yards to Singletary’s seven. Neither guy had much of a workload, but Singletary usually has a promising catch or two. Instead, Moss turned heads in that role with an angry run early off a grab in the flat. Both will have more opportunities in the playoffs.

TE Dawson Knox

Dawson Knox had a nice catch late from Matt Barkley 20 yards down the field, but his effort came into question on a deep target on an early third down. In addition, Knox had eight targets throughout the game and only hauled in two of them. That’s not great for a guy who’s not exactly a touted blocker.

Sloppy starts

Slight bit of nervous energy there from the Bills in the first quarter, specifically on offense. Passes sailed, running plays went nowhere, balls were dropped, drives were not extended. Not a lot went right for the Bills in the opening quarter, as the team only gained 42 total yards and turned the ball over. Somehow, all whopping 56 points came after the first frame.

Push

CB Josh Norman

The veteran cornerback had a pick-six interception, Josh Norman’s first since 2015 when he was back with the Panthers. However, DeVante Parker finished with seven catches for 116 yards. Parker has a thing for solid games against the Bills, but about half of his grabs, slightly more even, came against Norman. Levi Wallace allowed his longest grab, though.

WR Andre Roberts

Andre Roberts is a deserved Pro Bowler. But he has one big problem as Buffalo’s return man: Roberts never scores. Isaiah McKenzie took backup snaps in the this role for Roberts and he scored the Bills’ first punt return touchdown since 2014. Funny how things work like that sometimes.

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Report card: Bills top Dolphins, 56-26

Buffalo Bills Week 17 report card after a 56-26 win vs. the Miami Dolphins.

There might not be enough ways to describe what the Buffalo Bills did to the Miami Dolphins on Sunday. In the Bills’ season finale, things went brutal for the Dolphins as Buffalo won 56-26.

The game was not only painful to watch for Miami, it was season-ending as the Dolphins (10-6)  later went on to miss out on the postseason due to their loss to the Bills (13-3). That comes in a year when two teams in the NFC (Bears, Football Team), made the postseason with a .500 or worse record.

Double ouch.

Following the huge regular season ending win for Buffalo, here’s how Bills Wire graded out them out in Week 17:

Stock up, stock down following the Bills’ win over the Dolphins

The Bills won their final game of the season and moved to 13-3 over their dismantling of the Miami Dolphins.

In the regular season finale the Buffalo Bills asserted their dominance over the Miami Dolphins with a 56-26 victory. It surprised most with the fact that the majority of starters played the first half, but it worked out perfectly for Buffalo (13-3). In that first half the Bills hung 28 on the ‘Fins (10-6), with all 28 being scored in the second quarter. Buffalo’s star quarterback Josh Allen had 224 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, putting the game away early.

But while it was a huge game against from the Bills QB, a number of Bills players affected the outcome of this one. Here’s Bills Wire’s latest stock report following their win over the Dolphins in Week 17:

Stock up

Isaiah McKenzie

The pre-game build up was all about the return of Josh Brown, we guess Isaiah McKenzie didn’t get the memo? McKenzie was the star of the show in the first half, catching two touchdowns, and adding an electric 84-yard punt return for a touchdown.

A hat-trick of touchdowns are always impressive, but this was his best game in terms of catches and yards. McKenzie had six grabs for 65 yards as well. Not bad. The Bills have Super Bowl aspirations, and if they want to win it, they’ll need performances like this from their rotational players.

Dean Marlowe
Dean Marlowe has been with the Bills since 2017 and has been used sparingly since. This isn’t to slight Marlowe, he just happens to be behind two of the best safeties in the league, but against Miami, he shined. Marlowe played the majority of the second half, and produced two interceptions.
His two picks came off two overthrows from rookie quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, and Marlowe was in the right place at the right time. Outside of the two picks he also broke up two other passes, an impressive outing from the backup.
Antonio Williams

If you were one of the people watching the game, and said “who?” when running back Antonio Williams entered the game, you’re not alone. Williams was either on the Bills practice squad or was being cut for most of the year.

The rookie from North Carolina had an excellent debut, he led the team in carries, rushing yards, and rushing touchdowns. Williams ended the game with 12 carries for 63 yards and two touchdowns. He also contributed in the passing game, with one catch that went for 20 yards.

Corey Bojorquez

Punter Corey Bojorquez has established himself as one of the best punters in the NFL this season and against the Dolphins he had some excellent punts. Bojorquez had just four boots, with two of them landing inside the 20 yard line. One of them even landed inside of the one-yard line for a coffin corner.

Honorable mentions:

Josh Allen had a great first half with 224 yards and three touchdowns, while breaking the Bills single-season record for passing yards. Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds had nine tackles, one for loss, and a sack. Finally, rookie kicker Tyler Bass (or Tyler Bas$$ if you’re cool), broke Buffalo’s single season point record with his eight extra points made.

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Bills re-sign CB Cam Lewis to practice squad

Cam Lewis is signed to the Buffalo Bills’ practice squad.

After likely releasing him to make room for cornerback Josh Norman on the team’s 53-man roster heading into Week 4’s meeting with the Las Vegas Raiders on Thursday, the Buffalo Bills have re-signed cornerback Cam Lewis to their practice squad.

The team announced the signing on Friday. In a corresponding move, the Bills have released running back Antonio Williams from their practice squad. Williams has been released and re-signed to Buffalo’s practice squad multiple times already this season.

Lewis, a former UDFA signing of the Bills out of the University at Buffalo, has either been called up to or on the Bills’ game day roster each outing this season, but has only contributed on 15 special teams snaps.

If Norman’s future holds true, he’ll make his debut in Week 4 after suffering a hamstring injury during training camp. Check back at Bills Wire over the weekend to see if that speculation becomes true.

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