While the NFL has yet to reinstate former Saints and former (for a few weeks) Rams defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the league has allowed him to look for work.
Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Williams has had such clearance since December 31, the launch of the annual offseason hiring cycle.
The fact that Williams remains unemployed is no surprise. Players will surely resist him, given the perception that he “snitched” on Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma as part of the internal NFL bounty suspension process, both with a sworn statement and testimony at the appeal hearing. And it will be hard for any owner to justify adding Williams to the payroll, given both his role in the bounty scandal and his cartoonish locker-room comments from last January, as the Saints prepared to face the 49ers in the postseason.
It could be that Williams’ only hope, at least in the short term, will be to serve as a consultant, possibly without his name even being publicly mentioned as having a relationship with the team.
There’s a separate question regarding whether and to what extent he will be entitled to severance pay from the Rams, who hired him not long before news of the bounty scandal broke. That question ultimately could be decided by the man who has yet to decide to fully reinstate Williams -- Commissioner Roger Goodell.