On Monday afternoon the Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley announced that wide receiver Mike Williams had approached the team about requesting a trade. Williams had been left inactive for yesterdays tilt with the New England Patriots, and apparently was not too happy about it. Being the past history between Williams and head coach Doug Marrone, this is far from a surprising development.
In 2009 Mike quit the Syracuse Orange football team that was coached by none other than Doug Marrone. Both parties have their own sides of the story, but the facts seem to lean toward a violation of team rules that was followed by a team vote on whether or not to keep Williams on the team, followed by Williams quitting the team.
While Mike Williams has shown in the past that he is a very talented wide receiver, his past indicates that he may not be worth the trouble of keeping. In March of 2014 it was reported that Williams was involved in a stabbing with his brother. Prior to that incident it has been reported that Williams has received over 16 traffic citations, was evicted from a prior residence and had to pay property damages, and in February Williams was charged with misdemeanor criminal mischief and trespassing charges.
When the Bills acquired Williams they also acquired his contract that he signed with the Buccaneers in 2013. The contract was a 6 year deal worth 39.62 million, 7.9 million of which was guaranteed. Apparently the Bills were hoping that bringing Williams back to his hometown of Buffalo would help ground him and try and cash in on his ability. Knowing the past between head coach Doug Marrone and Williams, it was a risky gamble. It appears as if the gamble failed.
Mike Williams has already been fined twice by the Bills since the season started, and with his benching on Sunday and request for a trade on Monday, the end for Mike Williams in Buffalo seems inevitable. Perhaps Williams will go on to another NFL franchise and find success such as he did in his rookie season of 2010. But the evidence and past history would dictate that it’s about as likely as occurring as the gamble the Bills took when they acquired Williams in April. For the Bills all they can hope is that some other general manager is willing to take the problem off their hands sooner rather than later.