Bills RB Karlos Williams shows up to mini-camp overweight

Buffalo Bills running back Karlos Williams, an important second-year player, showed up to mini-camp overweight and was held out of practices…

Because of their maneuvering up in the 2014 NFL Draft to take wide receiver Sammy Watkins, the Buffalo Bills were without a first round pick in 2015. That didn’t prevent them from having one of the most impactful draft classes in the league, led by arguably the draft’s best defensive player last season in cornerback Ronald Darby.

The Bills also seemed to come away from the 2015 draft with a steal in Florida State running back Karlos Williams. Williams averaged 5.6 yards per carry in his rookie season, and had 110 yards in each of the Bills’ two games against the Miami Dolphins on just 21 carries.

He provided a great spark when LeSean McCoy was injured, and despite being picked in the fifth round just a year ago is expected to have a big impact on the offense in Buffalo this season. That makes it all the more shocking that he showed up to mini-camp visibly overweight and perhaps out of shape.

It was such that the Bills held him out of practices.

Bills RB Karlos Williams blames weight gain on wife’s pregnancy: “[It's] an excuse to eat” https://t.co/9X0p7xwASF pic.twitter.com/uJayDYTuZN
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) June 15, 2016

Williams blames the weight gain on his wife’s pregnancy, which is not a new excuse for a man in that situation. In fact, it is almost atypical of a guy (at least from what I’ve seen personally) not to gain some weight when his wife is pregnant.

Tyler Dunne of The Buffalo News offered this in regards to Williams’ appearance at mini-camp.

"Karlos Williams’ weight gain is no season-killer but it must be disappointing. Here’s a player who looked like a bonafide No. 1 back with the ball in his hands. Big (240’ish pounds), fast (4.4 speed) and decisive, Williams’ one-cut style was the perfect fit for Greg Roman’s scheme. The fifth-rounder from Florida State rushed for 517 yards on 93 attempts (5.6 avg.) with seven touchdowns. If he was 240-plus last season — as the back said himself — what is he now? Williams was carrying an extra bulge in minicamp, admitting he ate so his pregnant fiancé wouldn’t feel bad. Is he a bust? Absolutely not. There’s plenty of time to whip into shape…."

That’s not the best report coming out of camp for the second-year back, who definitely has time to get into shape. Perhaps he can take a page out of Eddie Lacy’s playbook and do some training with P90X creator and fitness guru Tony Horton.

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Or figure out whatever Trent Richardson did to get into shape this offseason.

It’s odd for outside observers and analysts like us, who perceive an NFL player’s life as a constant cycle of working out, eating healthy, spending time watching film, and getting work done on the field. You don’t always take into account their home or personal lives, and in this case, it cost Williams some bad publicity. Hopefully he shows up to training camp looking better and in better shape.

The Bills certainly will be better for it.

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