Kevin L. Williams (born August 4, 1975) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He played four seasons for the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

, and

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

Professional career

New York Jets (1998-2000)

Williams was selected by the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

but ended up with the

in the

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

due to a draft day trade. He was selected in the 3rd round (87th overall).

1998

Williams played in 15 games and started in 6 for the Jets in his rookie season, playing

free safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

and

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. He recorded 32 tackles, one interception, and a forced fumble.

1999

Williams had a disappointing 1999 season, only appearing in 4 games. This season was notably the Jets' last season with

Bill Parcells Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells (born August 22, 1941) is an American former football coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) for 19 seasons. He rose to prominence as the head coach of the New York Giants from 1983 ...

as head coach and the team promoted

Bill Belichick William Stephen Belichick (; born April 16, 1952) is an American professional football coach who is the head coach of the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). Additionally, he exercises extensive authority over the Patri ...

, the defensive coordinator, to head coach. However, Belichick was uncomfortable with the recent change in ownership and resigned one day after being named head coach in an infamous press conference. In the press conference, Belichick lauded Williams, stating, "that kid has gone through so much and I was just kind of thinking to myself the commitment that Kevin has made just to live and e representswhat it takes to win in this league..."

= 2000

= Williams played in 9 games and started 7 in his 2000 season with the Jets. He amassed a career high in kick return yards (615) and returned a kick 97 yards for a touchdown.

References

1975 births Living people Sportspeople from Pine Bluff, Arkansas Players of American football from Arkansas American football safeties American football cornerbacks Oklahoma State Cowboys football players New York Jets players Miami Dolphins players Houston Texans players {{defensiveback-1970s-stub