Roy Williams (wide receiver)

This article is about the wide receiver. For the retired safety, see Roy Williams (safety).

Roy Williams

Roy warming up for a 2008 game
No. 11
Wide receiver
Personal information
Date of birth: (1981-12-20) December 20, 1981
Place of birth: Odessa, Texas
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Weight: 215 lb (98 kg)
Career information
College: Texas
NFL Draft: 2004 / Round: 1 / Pick: 7
Debuted in 2004 for the Detroit Lions
Last played in 2011 for the Chicago Bears
Career history
Detroit Lions (2004–2008) Dallas Cowboys (2008–2010) Chicago Bears (2011)
Career highlights and awards
Pro Bowl (2006) NFC receiving yards leader (2006) Cotton Bowl Classic MVP (2003)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2011
Receptions 393 Receiving yards 5,715 Receiving TDs 44 Stats at NFL.com

Roy Eugene Williams, Jr. (born December 20, 1981) is a former American football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. He played college football for the University of Texas Longhorns. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions seventh overall in the 2004 NFL Draft. Williams also played for the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears.

Early years

Williams attended high school at Permian High School (Odessa, TX), where he starred in multiple sports. He lettered in football, track, baseball, and basketball, earning all-state honors in football and track and all-district accolades in baseball and basketball

College career

Arriving at the University of Texas, Williams and freshmen receivers BJ Johnson and Sloan Thomas were touted as the most talented group of incoming receivers in school history. By the end of his college career, Williams had become one of the most decorated receivers in Texas Longhorns history. Nicknamed "The Legend", he left school as the all-time leader in receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. He was a member of the All-Conference Team for the Big 12 on three occasions, and was a semi-finalist for the Biletnikoff Award during both his junior and senior seasons.

Track and field

Williams was also a track star at the University of Texas, where he recorded a personal best of 10.30 seconds in the 100 meters.

Williams also specialized in High jump and Long jump.

Personal bests

Event	Time (seconds)	Venue	Date
100 meters	10.30	Lubbock, Texas	April 29, 2000

Event	Mark (meters)	Venue	Date
High Jump	2.08	Lubbock, Texas	April 29, 2000
Long jump	7.77	Austin, Texas	May 13, 2000

NFL career

2004 NFL Draft

Williams was drafted 7th overall in the first round of the 2004 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. Many draft experts considered the pick a bold move since they had drafted Charles Rogers with the 2nd overall pick the year before.

2004 NFL Combine

Pre-draft measureables

Ht	Wt	40-yd dash	10-yd split	20-yd split	20-ss	3-cone	Vert	Broad	BP	Wonderlic
6 ft 3 in	212 lb	4.36 s			3.97 s	6.75 s	39.5 in		9 reps	17
All values from NFL combine

Detroit Lions

Rogers and Williams were set to become one of the best receiving duos in the league, but when Rogers was hurt on the third play of the 2004 season, Williams was left to carry the offense. He performed admirably, catching 54 passes for 817 yards and 8 touchdowns, despite suffering an ankle injury midway through the season that limited his effectiveness. The team performed terribly and spent their first round draft pick (10th overall) on yet another receiver, this time USC star Mike Williams. Roy Williams had a productive year for the 2006 Lions, having 1,310 yards and 7 touchdowns. The 1,310 were the most in the NFC; and tied with Indianapolis Colts receiver Reggie Wayne for 3rd most in the NFL. Roy Williams and teammate Mike Furrey caught more passes (178) than any other duo in the NFC. Williams was named an alternate for the 2007 Pro Bowl. When Torry Holt withdrew due to injury, Williams was named to the active squad. He was the first Detroit wide receiver to make the Pro Bowl since 1998 (Herman Moore). In 2007 Williams was set to regain his probowl form (bursting for a career high 204 yards vs Philadelphia) until he suffered a season-ending injury week 12 vs the Vikings,he was named as a seond alternate to the pro bowl that year; a game however he did not make the active roster. After 2007 he never regained his top 5 receiver form (as many considered him to be in 06-07).

Dallas Cowboys

Williams was traded to the Dallas Cowboys on October 14, 2008 for first, third and sixth round picks in the 2009 NFL Draft (the Cowboys also received a seventh round pick from the Lions in the 2010 draft). He was then signed to a new contract through the 2014 season; Roy Williams agreed to a 6 year, $54 million contract, along with $26 million guaranteed. After being traded mid-season to the Cowboys, Williams started seven games, caught 19 passes for 198 yards and one touchdown. By the close of the 2010 season, Williams had totaled 94 regular season catches for the Cowboys. In 2009 he helped the cowboys win there first playoff game since 1996 making 5 catches for 59 yds in the first half, helping set the tone for the blow out win. His best game with the cowboys was against in state rival Houston Texans in which he torched them for 117 yds 2 tds on 5 catchs while only being targeted 6 times. He was released by the Cowboys on July 28, 2011.

Chicago Bears

A day after being released by the Cowboys, Williams agreed to join the Chicago Bears for a 1 year $2.46 million contract. His best game with the Bears was Christmas night vs the Green bay packers 6-81 with (Josh Mcnown his q.b). Roy and Cutler had showed sighns of taking off and being the combo the Bears had hoped for, before Cutler went down with a broken thumb week 10, hurting the Bears chance to return to the Playoffs. And derailing Roy Williams time there to some extent. At the end of the day it wasn't enough and the bears elected not to bring Roy williams or his ex cowboy teammate Marion Barber back.

Williams announced his retirement from the NFL on his Facebook page on September 8, 2012. At the time of Roy Williams retirement, he had 14 - 100 yd games and 1 game over 200 yds . He also had 21 games with his yardage being between between 70-99 yds, where he approached the century mark. He had 2 touchdown receptions in 9 games with a high of 3 touchdowns in 2005 vs the Arizona Cardinals. On the down side, even with Tony Romo as his quarterback, Williams had 5 games with 0 catches while being targeted 3 times or less in each of these contests. At the time of Roy williams' retirement on September 8, 2011 his career ranked 146th all-time in receiving yardage with 5715 receiving yards and 129th all time in receiving touchdowns with 44.

Personal

Williams played a small role in the 2004 sports film Friday Night Lights (his older brother was on the team the movie was based on). Williams played the role of an assistant coach for Midland Lee High School, which is one of Permian's biggest rivals. His one spoken line in the film is, "He ain’t going to play." An interesting tid bit on Roy williams he had a 99 yd td and 90 rec td while at Permian- a 96 yd rec td while at the university of Texas- and a 91 yard rec td while in the pros as member of the Detroit Lions.

External links

• "Detroit Lions bio". Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. Retrieved 2010-08-16. 
• Roy Williams on IMDb
• Chicago Bears bio