Raiders' Tyrell Williams remains confident after ‘frustrating' season

Share

ALAMEDA – Tyrell Williams is an easy-going, soft-spoken guy. That works against assumptions for NFL receivers, who can be loud, aggressive and brash, openly demanding the gosh-darn ball, often while using far more colorful language.

Williams doesn’t do that. Not his style.

One warning: don’t mistake kindness for weakness.

The Raiders receiver is as supremely confident as louder members of his fraternity. That’s why this season has been such a bummer.

Williams has been just okay a season into his tenure with the Raiders, a golden opportunity to prove he deserves to be a No. 1 receiver. He exceeded 1,000 yards in 2016, when he inherited that title due to a plague of injuries at his position with the then-San Diego Chargers.

He got promoted again this year after the Antonio Brown disaster ended with severed ties. Williams was excited about being the primary target, looking forward to a massive season in silver and black.

That hasn’t happened, with pedestrian numbers while dealing with plantar fasciitis that simply won’t go away.

“It has been a frustrating season,” Williams said on this week’s Raiders Talk podcast. “It didn’t go exactly how I wanted, but I still feel like I was able to make some plays and get through the injury stuff that was going on. I just kept fighting through. I am proud of myself and the fact that I have worked through the injuries and some of mistakes that have happened. Through all that, I still feel like I’m one of the best receivers and it’s about continuing to work and get myself healthy. My big focus has been on working through the adversity and finishing the season strong.”

There’s one game left Sunday against the host Denver Broncos, maybe more if things go right in other games. Williams is still battling bad feet, even showing up on the participation report Thursday after missing practice. It’s a physical battle for sure, but its ever-presence has been a mental strain.

“I haven’t been able to do much of anything outside of football while trying to rest my feet, so it’s always on my mind,” Williams said. “I know there are a lot of guys battling a lot of different things. I’m no different. I’m not using it as an excuse for why I may have had a down year. I want to be able to prove the player that I am, and I just haven’t been myself completely this year. Getting healthy is the most important thing, so I can prove to myself and others the type of player I am.”

Williams hasn’t lost an ounce of confidence during this process. He still believes he can be a dominant player when healthy. He has been fortunate in that regard before this season. Williams hadn’t missed an NFL game before the Week 6 win over Chicago in London, the first of two games out.

“I just want to be out there,” Williams said. “Having an injury take me out of two games was the toughest part. I didn’t want to miss any more. I knew I had to fight through it and play.”

[RELATED: Darren Waller already has checklist to build off Raiders breakout season]

Williams never brought up his feet after returning in Week 8, even when production proved inconsistent and drops showed up at inopportune times.

Absolute trust in his ability remains, and Williams believes he will re-establish top form. He wants to do that in silver and black. He signed a four-year, $44 million deal last offseason that’s essentially a pay-as-you-go deal, but believes he’ll be around and also is taking diligent notes after every game to find growth opportunities in-season and after this campaign ends to be a better Raider in 2020.

“Each week I try to make a list of ways I can get better in the offseason,” Williams said. “I have compiled that as much as I can, and I’ll go back after the season and watch all the film and change some things. But, after each game, some things kind of hit me right away that you can’t work on during the season but you can attack in the offseason. My list is always long. I’m always finding things to get better at.”

Contact Us