Mike Williams, the former Buccaneers and Bills wide receiver, is on life support at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa after suffering serious injuries while working at a construction site, a family member told the Tampa Bay Times.
Williams, 36, had been working in Hillsborough County when he was injured last week, according to the mother of his 8-year-old daughter, Tierney Lyle. The former NFL player was mostly nonresponsive when visited Wednesday afternoon, and while the plan is reportedly for Williams to be removed from life support in the ICU, that has yet to occur.
“They were waiting on me and (his daughter),” Lyle said. “We’re here and still trying to figure it out.
“He was asleep when we went in there and he woke up when he heard our voices and his daughter’s voice. And he looked around, and he blinked and he was crying, but he can’t move.”
Buffalo’s Spectrum News 1 erroneously reported Tuesday night that Williams had already died as a result of the injuries.
A native of Buffalo, New York, Williams was drafted by the Buccaneers in the fourth round (No. 101 overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft. He is perhaps best known for his rookie season with Tampa Bay, when he led the team with 65 catches for 964 yards and a then-franchise-record 11 touchdowns. The 6-foot-2 target had similar production in each of his next two years, eclipsing 60 catches and 750 yards from 2011-2012, then landed a six-year, $40 million extension ahead of the 2013 campaign.
A hamstring injury limited Williams to just six games in his first year under the new deal, and the wideout was traded to his hometown Bills after the season. He briefly flashed as a big-play option, scoring three TDs and averaging almost 18 yards per catch in nine games, but reportedly sought another trade by mid-October, and the Bills released him later that season.
He served a multigame suspension to start 2015 before spending the rest of the year unsigned, only to resurface with the Chiefs during the 2016 offseason. He competed for a reserve role behind veterans Jeremy Maclin and Chris Conley, as well as then-rookie Tyreek Hill, before his release as part of final roster cuts in August.
