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Last year, Karlos Williams was nothing short of spectacular as a rookie. He was the fourth most productive running back in the rookie class. He rushed for 517 yards and seven touchdowns on only 93 carries, and he added two more scores receiving. How then does a player like that get released after only one season?
Well, he showed up to camp 20 lbs overweight and followed that up with a four-game suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse policy. Granted, he slimmed back down during camp and looks like he will be ready to go (certainly by the time he comes back from his suspension), but those are some pretty ugly red flags.
The argument in favor of Williams is that he’s an exceptionally talented player, but that argument loses some of its effectiveness with the Bills’ General Manager coming out and saying that the release was entirely due to performance. That said, the Bills have quite a bit of talent at the running back position. LeSean McCoy is a special player, Mike Gillislee appears to be for real, and Reggie Bush is a pretty good third running back.
Williams would almost certainly increase the talent level of the Chargers backfield, but would he be worth it? I’d have to lean strongly toward “no.” What do you think?