When the Cleveland Browns released former Green Bay Packers cornerback Tramon Williams this offseason, we figured that was the end of the line.
Not surprisingly, Williams doesn’t think so. In fact, he says he wanted out of Cleveland because — and this is even less of a surprise — it was so dysfunctional.
“At the end of the day, those guys were just going in a different direction,” Williams said. “From the start of training camp to the beginning of the season, they were going in a different direction. And it came a point during the season to where I wanted to be released. That’s why we got released because it wasn’t a stable spot. It’s not a stable spot. You don’t know who’s going to be the coaches from year to year, and I didn’t know that so I didn’t want to be one of those veterans who is stuck in a spot and at the end of the day, I’m not going to be able to get a job because I was on a bad team. That’s why I wanted to get out of there.”
We really don’t blame anyone for wanting to get out of Cleveland. It truly is the NFL’s junior varsity. Not only is the team always terrible, the organization is run like a clown show.
This isn’t to bag on the Cleveland Browns, though. There are a million other people to do that.
This is about Tramon’s prospects for continued employment. And let’s get this out of the way, the Packers aren’t going to re-sign Williams.
In two seasons with the Browns, Williams started 22 of 27 games, had 105 tackles, 15 passes defended and two interceptions. The numbers dipped in 2016, when he started just 12 games, finishing with 36, five and one.
Williams is 34 and, along with his decline in production, it’s pretty clear why he doesn’t have a team yet. Sure, you can blame the stench of the Browns, but those other two factors are going to play more of a role.
Williams said he’s been in contact with several teams about playing in 2017, but that doesn’t mean those teams are actually interested.
It may come down to a training camp injury for Tramon to get a call. On the other hand, we could just as easily see the phone not ringing at all.
He done.