Demetrius Williams: a familiar story
You gotta feel for Demetrius Williams. Unless you're so frustrated with the Ravens' injury-prone wide receiver that the very mention of his name makes you scream.
Just look at the situation he finds himself in now.
It's the last week of pre-season games. Williams was on the bubble to make this team. And now, after Saturday's 24-10 Ravens win over the New York Giants, two of the wideouts ahead of him on the depth chart -- Donte Stallworth (broken foot) and Mark Clayton (concussion) -- are sidelined.
Should be a perfect opportunity for Williams to step up and show what he can do, right?
A perfect opportunity to string together a series of good, solid practices to catch the coaches' eyes and maybe shine in Thursday's last pre-season game against the St. Louis Rams, too?
Except . . . there's just one problem.
Williams is hurt. His sprained ankle is still bothering him. According to Ed Lee's post at the Ravens Insider blog -- you can read it here -- Williams was noticeably favoring the ankle when he emerged from the locker room for the start of morning practice today.
And Lee also noted that Williams ran at about half-speed in the positional drills.
Hmm, half-speed. Doesn't seem like a great way to get yourself noticed when, all around you, they're dropping like flies at your position.
Understand, this is not to question Williams' heart or dedication. When you're injured, you're injured.
It's just that this guy is running out of opportunities to stick with the Ravens. And he's already got the rep of a guy who's failed to make the most of those opportunities in the past.
Here's hoping the ankle gets better soon -- at least for his sake, if not for the Ravens.
Comments
Enough with DWill already. Get rid of him. He'll never amount to anything. Give David Reed a shot. He can't so any worse.
Posted by: Randy Hymes | August 30, 2010 4:13 PM
Ya know Randy, Williams is a good receiver when he's healthy. I don't know what games you've been watching, but Demetrius attacks the ball when it's thrown to him, and that usually means that if he doesn't make the catch, neither does the DB.
He doesn't alligator arm, he has good hands, he has excellent speed...if he's healthy, we'd better keep him. I would've preferred seeing him last season over Clayton, in fact.
Posted by: E.C. | August 30, 2010 10:33 PM
Says the guy called "Randy Hymes". LOL
News flash, genius. They ARE probably going to give David Reed a chance. But especially with this new injury developments, the Ravens would be just plain stupid not to keep Williams on the Roster. He's the only one out of all of them that both A) has game experience and knows the system, and B) has shown he can play, and make plays, in the NFL.
Justin Harper, Eron Riley, and Marcus Smith haven't really done that. At all. Despite his setbacks (including not being used most of last season, which was stupid on the team's part), Demetrius HAS done those things. He has made great catches, he has proven he can be a deep threat. And whether you seem to personally like him or not, he's always been a humble, hard working kid, and more importantly, throughout all his adversity, he's actually managed to score at LEAST one TD each and every season he's been here. He's actually contributed to wins for this team. That's what matters. In fact, that's all that matters.
It sucks for if he can't even stay healthy enough to get off the practice squad. But D-Will has been there and done that, and at this point, he is pretty much the only player on this roster that we KNOW is capable of doing the kinds of things, at least for the most part, that the coaching staff was seemingly expecting Stallworth to do.
So what do you do in this type of tough situation? You keep Williams. I already thought, all offseason in fact, that they'd wind up keeping Williams as the #5 WR. But with these new developments, they will absolutely keep him, and he has much more value to the team, as a #4 WR. Reed will stick around too, as the #5, and as kick returner, no doubt about it. But Williams, God willing, should actually get the chance he deserved last year, to show that he can be a reliable playmaker for this team, in this "new, expanded offense" of ours.
Posted by: Ravens_Flock | August 30, 2010 11:00 PM
i once had high hopes for D Will. but i've come to believe he's too soft to play in this league. maybe there's a place for him with the Mariners (Baltimore's indoor football world champs).
Posted by: gordonlee | August 30, 2010 11:06 PM
Sorry but I don't see near enough in this guy to warrant a roster spot this year. His hand strength is questionable and he is most definitely fragile to put it mildly.
Marcus Smith at least plays well on Special Teams and has the build to play in the slot. David Reed played very well 2 weeks ago against Washington.
I'd go with Smith for his ST abilities because I really think you can plug either of the two rookie tight ends into the slot position and they can be a load.
Williams is just way too fragile to depend on and with Boldin's history of missing time, he's too big a risk.
Posted by: Ed D | August 31, 2010 2:01 AM
Williams is very talented and can help the team. But if he can't get on the field because he's always hurt... what good is he?
Posted by: Brian | August 31, 2010 9:08 AM
Plus 1 . Give David Reed a shot. When he gets past the rookie jitters he may be the answer. Provided there isn't some other problem we are not being told.
Posted by: WV Mike | August 31, 2010 9:13 AM