Argos sign troubled ex-Bill, Williams
Ongoing marijuana issues and weight gain led to player’s year-long ban
TORONTO — Karlos Williams isn’t coming to the CFL with a chip on his shoulder.
But he does have something to prove — to himself.
The six-foot-one, 225-pound running back signed with the Toronto Argonauts this week. Williams, 26, and the father of eight, last played football in 2015 with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
Williams made a significant impact in his rookie season before his career was derailed by three suspensions for violating the league’s substance abuse policy for marijuana use.
The most recent suspension was a year-long ban handed down June 28, 2017. The NFL reinstated Williams last February.
“There’s no chip and here’s why,” Williams said. “My mission was to be reinstated.
“People who don’t know me personally don’t know how it works to live fast, make a lot of money and be pushed into the spotlight. Not everybody is used to it. It hit me fast and I wanted to enjoy it but I think I enjoyed it too much. I’ve been given an opportunity . . . it may work out, it may not but I am truly blessed and thankful to sign with Toronto.”
A converted safety at Florida State, Williams ran for 1,419 yards and 22 TDs in 26 games over his final two seasons, helping the Seminoles win the 2014 NCAA crown. That year, Williams was investigated by Tallahassee, Fla., police in an alleged domestic abuse case but no charges were filed.
Williams went in the fifth round, No. 155 overall, of the 2015 NFL draft to Buffalo.
He tied an NFL record with TDs in his first six games en route to rushing for 517 yards (5.6-yard average) and seven touchdowns while adding 11 catches for 96 yards and two scores.
But Buffalo released Williams in August 2016 after he reported to camp overweight. Williams cited his poor conditioning on being supportive of his pregnant fiancée.
“I like to eat and her being pregnant gave me an excuse to eat,” Williams said. “She’d wake up in the middle of the night and I wasn’t going to sit there and watch her eat alone because I didn’t want her to feel bad.”
Williams’ issues compounded when the NFL suspended him for four games that same year after testing positive for marijuana use. He joined the Pittsburgh Steelers practice roster Oct. 11, 2016 but received a second ban for 10 games weeks later. He re-signed with Pittsburgh following the suspension but was released less than two months later. In June 2017, Williams received the year-long penalty.
“I got myself reinstated by being clean and I’ve been clean since,” Williams said. “It’s proving to myself I can still do it.
“I believe in myself that I can stay clean and play football.” Williams — whose older brother, Vince, is a defensive tackle with the Steelers — isn’t concerned about succumbing to temptation in Canada, where pot use is legal.
“I wanted to stop, I wanted to prove to people I could go without and I’ve done that,” he said. “I don’t think there’ll be an issue.”
Williams isn’t the first running back with pot issues to come to Toronto. Former Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams, also a running back, spent the 2006 season with the Argos while serving a seasonlong NFL suspension for marijuana use.
Williams currently lives with his fiancée and their three children — daughters Kylie, 5, and Koda, who turns two next month, and son Kason, 3. He’s also close with his other five kids — three boys living in Pittsburgh and two other boys in Orlando, Fla.