Eagles release 51-year-old former player nearly 30 years after his final game
Every day, the NFL transaction wire has dozens of names, mostly of players who are on the fringe of NFL rosters or are dealing with some sort of injury.
So it was a shock when former Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Bernard Williams, who hadn't played in almost three decades, found out he was cut by the team that drafted him in 1994.
Williams, now 51, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he was driving his Amazon delivery route earlier this week and got a text from an NFL scout that he coached in high school.
“He said, ‘I saw it come across the wire,’” Williams said. “This came out of nowhere."
The Eagles drafted Williams with the 14th overall pick in the 1994 draft.
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Williams played his rookie season, then was suspended for six games in 1995 and then banned again for the rest of the season. He never played an NFL down after that and never applied for reinstatement. Williams had remained on the suspended list ever since.
“It was about me dealing with personal stuff,” Williams told the newspaper. “A lot of grief at that point in my life that I hadn’t dealt with. I really needed to take some time off, but I couldn’t. Marijuana was my crutch during that time. Pretty much, I just wanted to be home. I applaud the young athletes like Simone Biles who are taking time off to deal with their personal issues and mental health. If I was given that opportunity back then, I think I would’ve played a lot longer than I did.”
Williams returned to football in 2000, playing for the Canadian Football League, the Arena Football League and the XFL.
“I think I could’ve played 10, 15 years and been a Hall of Fame player,” Williams said. “I think my talent was that great. But I also think football isn’t life and it’s never been for me. I do love football, but I love myself more. I think about the $50 million down the drain, maybe $100 million down the drain, but when I was rich I wasn’t happy. The money doesn’t bother me.”
An Eagles spokesman told NBC Sports Philadelphia that NFL officials contacted the team recently and explained that they were clearing out decades-old players on various reserve lists when Williams’ name surfaced.