Perhaps there were times a painful bruised knee would have knocked Redskins left tackle out of a game.
But he said Wednesday that he had to prove himself after last year’s drug suspension, and that led him to return.
“That’s a driving force behind a lot of things that I do as of now,” Williams said, via Rich Campbell of the Washington Times. “I made a mistake, and I kind of use it as a learning experience. Of course, I alienated my team for four games and wasn’t able to be there. I was a captain at the time, and that made me feel even worse.
“This year I’m just trying to prove to them that I’ve grown up a lot and that’s not me anymore.”
Williams didn’t practice on Wednesday or Thursday last week, and was limited Friday. He was hurt the previous week against the Bengals.
“I was somewhat proud of myself for fighting through that pain,” he said. “A couple years ago, I may have kind of wanted to shut it down and not play through that type of pain because it was a lot of discomfort. I was somewhat proud of myself for that part of growing up.”
Plenty of guys say they’ve learned their lessons, but if Williams is putting that into action, there’s a much better chance of it being true.