Bills safety Aaron Williams, who has been sidelined since Week 2 with a neck injury, is mulling retirement, according to Mike Rodak of ESPN.com (Twitter links). Williams returned to Bills practice on Thursday with an eye on returning this season, but it’s not a certainty that he will. Whatever Williams does on the practice field and in live action this year will apparently be a litmus test for whether he will continue in 2016 and beyond.
While at practice on Thursday, Williams revealed that he underwent a “procedure” on his neck about a month ago and doctors cautioned him that his playing days may be over. The veteran indicated that his first hit upon returning will give him an idea of what his next step will be.
Williams is technically eligible to play on Sunday against the Eagles, but that remains highly unlikely. When asked to handicap the likelihood that Williams will return at all in 2015, coach Rex Ryan said the odds are probably 50/50, as Rodak writes. Williams, 25, suffered a very scary neck injury in Week 2 but made it back on to the field in Week 5. Unfortunately, he was not back at 100% and he was given the team’s IR-DTR designation days later.
Williams inked a four-year extension with the Bills back in March of 2014 worth a healthy $26MM. At the time, the former second-round pick was coming off of a season in which he grabbed four interceptions and registered 82 tackles, both of which were easily career highs.
Probably just trying to stick it out another year for that big $