William James (born William James Peterson, Jr.; June 15, 1979) 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 ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

. He was drafted by the

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

in the third round of the

2001 NFL Draft The 2001 NFL Draft was the 66th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible professional football players. The draft, which is officially referred to as the "NFL Player Selection Meeting," was held at the ...

. 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 ...

Western Illinois Forgottonia (), also spelled Forgotonia, is the name given to a 16-County (United States), county region in Western Illinois in the late 1960s and early 1970s. This geographic region forms the distinctive western bulge of Illinois (area west of ...

. James was also a member of the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

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. ...

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

, and

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

College career

James (then known as Will Peterson) attended the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

for two years, studying fashion design, one of them with the school's 1997 national championship team, before finishing his collegiate career at Western Illinois University with a brief stint at Youngstown State in Ohio between the two. In his senior season at Western Illinois, James started 10 games. He finished his college career with 96 tackles (77 solo), nine interceptions, two sacks, and 11 tackles for losses. He averaged over 26 yards per interception return and scored two defensive touchdowns.

Professional career

New York Giants

In his rookie NFL season with the Giants in 2001, James played in all sixteen games, starting in five of them. In 2002, he started all 12 games in which he played, but missed four due to injuries. In 2003, James started five games, but missed the rest of the season because of a

stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running or ...

in his lower back. In 2004, James played in every regular season game for the Giants, and started fifteen of them. James was released by the Giants on Friday May 26, 2006; the Giants waived him because of severe back problems and health issues related to

s in his lower back.

Philadelphia Eagles

James signed with the Philadelphia Eagles on October 30, 2006 and played with the team for two seasons before becoming a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in 2008.

Buffalo Bills

On March 18, 2008, James was signed by the

to a two-year contract, but was released on August 30 during final cuts.

Jacksonville Jaguars

James was signed by the

on September 1, 2008. The Jacksonville Jaguars released William James on Thursday, June 11, 2009.

Detroit Lions

James signed with the

on July 28, 2009.

San Francisco 49ers

James was signed by the

on May 5, 2010. His contract expired at season's end, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Personal life

Name change

Upon signing with the Eagles, James officially dropped the Peterson Jr. from his name.

References

Joshua Stevens Andre M Stevens. Frank Tomasino

External links

Jacksonville Jaguars bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:James, William 1979 births Living people American football cornerbacks Players of American football from Pennsylvania Buffalo Bills players Jacksonville Jaguars players Michigan Wolverines football players New York Giants players Philadelphia Eagles players San Francisco 49ers players Western Illinois Leathernecks football players People from Uniontown, Pennsylvania