Michael Anthony Williams (born May 18, 1987) is a former

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 ...

wide receiver. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Syracuse, and was drafted by the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

in the fourth round of the

2010 NFL Draft The 2010 NFL Draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, with the firs ...

. He has also played for the

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

and the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

Early years

Williams attended

Riverside Institute of Technology Riverside Institute of Technology (formerly known as Riverside High School) was a public high school located in Buffalo, New York. It served Grades 9-12 and taught according to the Board of Regents. Riverside closed in June 2019 after years of low ...

. As a senior, he had 970 receiving yards and 15

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

on offense and 35 tackles and two

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

on defense.

College career

As a

true freshman Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

at Syracuse in 2006, Williams made 24 receptions for a team-leading 461 yards and four touchdowns in 10 games. As a sophomore in 2007 Williams was an all-

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

second-team selection. He finished the season tying a school record with 60 receptions for 837 yards and ten touchdowns in 12 games. In June 2008 Williams was suspended for the 2008 season for academic reasons. On November 3, 2009, Williams quit the team due to a possible suspension following a violation of team rules after he was involved in a car accident with teammates, Antwon Bailey, Andrew Tiller and Torrey Ball. In 2009 before he quit the team he had impressive numbers including 49 receptions for 746 yards and six touchdowns in only 7 games.

Professional career

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

2010 season

Williams was drafted by the

in the fourth round (101st overall) in the

. He was signed to a four-year contract on June 4, 2010. On September 12, 2010, he made his NFL debut against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

, making 5 receptions for 30 yards and a touchdown. In his first pro season, Williams became the first Buccaneer rookie to score a touchdown in back-to-back games since Carnell Williams in 2005. On October 31, 2010, Williams recorded first career 100-yard receiving game at Arizona, finishing with 105 yards on four receptions and a touchdown. Williams started all 16 games as a rookie and had 65 receptions for 964 yards and 11 touchdowns. His 11 touchdowns marked a new Buccaneers franchise record for most receiving touchdowns in a single season. After his great rookie season, Williams finished second in voting for AP Offensive Rookie of the Year, and was a finalist for the NFL Pepsi Rookie of the Year. He was also named to The Sporting News NFL All- Rookie Team and PFW/PFWA All-Rookie Team and led all rookie receivers in the NFL in yardage (964), receptions (65) and touchdowns (11) in 2010.

2011 season

In 2011, Williams took a step back as his receiving yards and touchdowns went down. He was still an effective starter as he caught 68 passes for 771 yards.

2012 season

He finished the 2012 season with a career-high in receiving yards with 996.

2013 season

On July 24, 2013 it was reported that Williams had agreed to a new six-year, $40.25 million contract with the Buccaneers that would have kept him in Tampa Bay through the 2018 season. On October 28, the Bucs announced that they had placed Williams on injured reserve, ending his season and leaving the Buccaneers without one of their starting wideouts the rest of the way. Williams battled a hamstring injury for several weeks and finished the season with 22 catches for 216 yards and two touchdowns.

Buffalo Bills

On April 4, 2014, Williams was traded to the Buffalo Bills, his hometown team, for a 6th-round draft pick, just one season after signing a contract extension with the Buccaneers. On October 13, 2014, it was reported that Williams had asked the Bills for a trade. Williams was placed on the waived/injured list on December 8, 2014. He went unclaimed during the waiver process, and was placed on the Bills injured reserve list the next day. On December 22, 2014, Williams recovered from his calf injury and was released by the Bills.

Suspension

On September 8, 2015, it was announced that Williams would be suspended for the first six weeks of the 2015 season. He spent the entire 2015 season as a free agent.

Kansas City Chiefs

On April 25, 2016, Williams signed with the

. On August 25, 2016, Williams was released by the Chiefs.

References

External links

Buffalo Bills bio

Tampa Bay Buccaneers bio

Syracuse Orange bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Mike 1987 births Living people Players of American football from Buffalo, New York American football wide receivers Syracuse Orange football players Tampa Bay Buccaneers players Buffalo Bills players Kansas City Chiefs players