Former Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Vince Williams, who was a sixth round pick out of Florida State in the 2013 NFL Draft, joined the Arthur Moats Experience with Deke Monday afternoon. Williams was a key component of the Steelers defense as a run stopper who spent his entire career in the black and gold. Williams was released by the team after the 2020 NFL season. Deke asked what happened with his release, re-signing, and ultimately retirement. He was not holding anything back and jumped right in:
"Essentially, I became a cap casualty, so I got cut," Williams explained. "I explored some free agent options. I looked around and I was like I really don’t want to play anywhere besides Pittsburgh Steelers. So, I came back, but then when I was there, it was just different. I was a little older, you know it was harder. You get a little up in age, your body starts hurting. I had torn my quad muscle earlier in the season. In the second Browns game, I tore my quad and I played with a torn quad in the playoff game. So, I was still really trying to recover from that."
Vince Williams (#98) of the Pittsburgh Steelers reacts after a defensive stop in the second half during the game against the Minnesota Vikings at Heinz Field on September 17, 2017 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. | JOE SARGENT/GETTY IMAGES
The emotion in Williams' voice is palpable. His love for the organization and the pain of losing his NFL home really shines through. Williams continued:
"You know taking a huge pay cut like that really took all the air out of my sails, bro. It really just felt like I was obsolete, so when I came back into the building, I didn’t see where I fit, I didn’t see where I belonged. I felt like the organization wanted to move forward with Robert Spillane and Devin Bush which they should, those guys are young guys, I was happy for those guys. I never wanted to be one of those spiteful vets that would sit around and you know be bitter and talk about what I could do or how I could contribute, so you know I just left. It’s better for me to leave this way. I’ll retire, I wasn’t going to milk it out and try to stay on the team, collect the money and retire during the season. I just thought that’s what would be best for me and my family to just step away from the game of football."
Williams' consistent play and gap discipline was a huge component of allowing Ryan Shazier and Bush prior to his knee injury to fly around the field and attack the ball. Much like Ryan Clark’s role in Troy Polamalu’s success, Williams outside of Pittsburgh is largely unappreciated for how much he impacted the defense. The Steelers had to bring in Myles Jack to pair with Bush this season to fill a glaring hole from last season. Moats followed up with Williams asking, "How difficult was that to come to that decision?"
"I am not going to lie to you Moats, I fell into a deep depression," said Williams. "Mostly because I felt like I was still the most talented and productive linebacker, middle linebacker on the team. You know I’m pretty sure every guy feels that way. So I don’t think I’m unique in that capacity at all, I just felt that I was still the most productive, most talented linebacker on the team. I had this sense of uselessness, like I’m not useful no more. My entire life I’ve been a football player, I’ve had a role for me and now there’s no role for me. I was lost. You kind of go through kind of like a little ego death, you have a slight insecurity there. Now what am I going to do? Am I rotational guy? I tried to get on special teams and Danny [Smith] was like, 'bro, what are you going to do on special teams? You are too valuable to be a special teams player, but you’re not valuable enough to play. You are not valuable enough to pay,' so I was stuck in this limbo role. What do I do? I don’t see my value here. When you start feeling like that, you can’t produce."
Williams signed a four-year contract with the Steelers in 2018. He signed for $20.6 million dollars which was a significant payday for a former sixth round draft pick, but he had proved his worth to the team. Even in Pittsburgh, football is a business and when he tore his quad in his eighth season in the league, the Steelers made a difficult decision to release him. He shares during the interview that even when the team extended the olive branch to return on a minimum contract, he struggled with his motivation and his inability to contribute to the team.
Williams' candor really hits home that he holds no bitterness towards the men who replaced him, but you can tell that while he loves the Steelers, he definitely feels like his return could have been handled differently. He refused to cling to the roster, although based on the product on the field in 2021, you can’t help but wonder if his presence may have helped to stabilize the run defense or at least Bush’s mental slump in the run game.
You can watch the complete podcast on YouTube here.
What do you think, Steeler Nation? How do you feel about Williams revealing how hurt he was to lose his position? Please comment below or on my Twitter @the bubbasq.
