CLEVELAND, Ohio — Aug. 24 was a surreal day at Browns training camp. First, second-round safety Grant Delpit was carted off the field in what seemed like slow motion with what proved to be a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Shortly thereafter, his former LSU Tigers teammate Greedy Williams felt a jolting shock in his shoulder while making a tackle and walked into the fieldhouse with a trainer, holding his arm at his side. At the time, he had no idea he was walking away from his 2020 season.
“I go in there, and I’m thinking Grant sprained his ankle, nothing serious,’’ Williams told cleveland.com in an exclusive interview on Tuesday. “So when I get into the training room, he’s laying back with a towel over his face and I see a little tears. I’m like, ‘Wow, this must be really, really serious’’
Williams, the Browns’ second-round pick in 2019 and starting cornerback, went over to ask what happened, and Delpit didn’t want to tell him at first.
“He just kept crying,’’ Williams said. “He said ‘I think I tore my Achilles.’ I was just like, ‘Whoa.’’’
Williams felt so bad for his close friend, who was slated to be the Browns’ starting free safety last season, that he didn’t think much about the lingering tingling in his right shoulder.
“I thought, ‘It’s just a stinger, I’ll be out at practice tomorrow,’’’ Williams said. “I ain’t trippin. I had ice on the shoulder, but I was just sitting there and supporting [Grant] and letting him know, ‘Man you’ll be back, sometimes in this game you have to take time off, just regroup and come back better than before.’’’
Little did he know that he’d have to take his own advice soon.
Greedy Williams, right, and teammate Denzel Ward during training camp in August.John Kuntz, cleveland.com
How it happened
“We were doing this tackling drill,’’ Williams said. “It’s supposed to be receivers running towards the sideline and we just wrap them up like formal tackling or whatever. It got out of hand and guys just started hitting like crazy with all of their force. I went and tried to hit a guy with all my force and he ducked his head into my shoulder and ran through my shoulder.’’
He felt a searing sting in the right shoulder and then his whole arm went numb, like someone flipped off the switch.
“I had never felt anything like it before,’’ he said. “I couldn’t move it, so that’s why if you see on the video I was carrying it [close to his body] because I couldn’t feel my arm.’’
By the time he got into the training room, some of the feeling had returned, but the shoulder was still sore. The Browns described his injury as “day-to-day’’ and believed he’d be on the field soon, gearing up to take a big leap in his second year opposite Denzel Ward. But day-to-day soon turned into “week-to-week,’’ and Williams’ condition was shrouded in mystery.
“After like three or four days, it was still kind of numb and sore, so we waited for like a week or two weeks and it was still the same way,’’ Williams said.
Depression hits
The doubts and the depression crept in almost immediately, and Williams struggled to keep his head up. He had overcome a demoralizing draft day slide into the second round, and missed the first four games of his rookie year with a pulled hamstring. He was eager to return in 2020 and show the NFL world what he could do.
“I never missed a game in college,’’ Williams said. “I came back and I was like ‘OK, I’m ready to go. I got my feet wet, it’s my time.’’’
Every couple of weeks, Williams underwent an electromyography test in which fine needles were inserted into the shoulder to get the muscle to fire.
Each week, nothing.
“It was very stressful,’’ Williams said. “I’d always go in very hopeful and it just wasn’t responding.’’
Everyone needs a brother like this
Fortunately for Williams, his older brother, Deandre Fuller, came to visit from Louisiana the day before the injury — and settled in for the long haul.
“He only had like a weekend bag,’’ Williams said. “He wanted to stay and see how the injury would go and just be here while I’m going through tests and stuff like that. He stayed the entire time, like the whole six months.’’
Fuller helped get Williams to his appointments, and to his treatment protocol at the Browns facility, where he also had to undergo daily COVID-19 testing. He also helped pull Williams out of the doldrums after those failed EMG tests every couple of weeks.
“He helped me not think about it as much,’’ Williams said. “Every day, he just motivated me to keep going and he hyped me up every day, because normally I’d just sit back and just be stressed.’’
Game days were some of the most difficult days of all. Williams had watched the Browns’ culture change before his eyes, and winning unfold on the field after a difficult 6-10 season in 2019. It crushed him not to be a part of it.
“I wanted to be out there,’’ Williams said. “Just sitting and watching and not being on the airplane and not being at the facility around the team, it put a lot of stress on me.’’
In this Sept. 8, 2018, file photo, LSU cornerback Greedy Williams (29) celebrates his interception against Southeastern Louisiana with safety Grant Delpit (9) and cornerback Kristian Fulton (22). Williams and Delpit would be reunited on the Browns.AP
Fighting his way back with Delpit
Williams also relied heavily all season on Delpit, with whom he was supposed to form one half of a dominant defensive backfield in 2020. Two Tigers tearing it up for the Browns.
“We rehabbed at the same time, so we definitely built up a bond so strong,’’ Williams said. “We just kept talking each other to motivate each other. It was a big thing to be by his side, and to have him by my side. We just kept growing.’’
On Sundays, they’d watch the games together and envision what they could accomplish if they were out there.
“We’d just chill and had a little brother bond,’’ Williams said. “At times it was like, ‘Why us?’ But we just didn’t think about it. We just did all of the work that we needed to do to get back out there and we grinded every day like were getting ready for the game.’’
Williams and Delpit “were talking more about LSU and we kind of maintained what we were and kept motivating each other day by day instead of just rushing and talking about the future.’’
On Oct. 25, another former LSU Tiger joined them on the Browns’ injured reserve list when receiver Odell Beckham Jr. suffered a torn ACL.
“I’m like, ‘Wow, like what like what’s going on? Is this not the LSU guys’ season?’’’ Williams said.
The two Tigers encouraged Beckham as much as they could, but he did his rehab in Arizona “while me and Grant were grinding it out inside the facility.’’
Reality sets in
As the season slipped away and Terrance Mitchell held down the fort in his spot, Williams came to grips with the fact he might not play at all in 2020. Finally, on Oct. 12, the Browns placed him on injured reserve and acknowledged that his season could be over. By that time, Williams knew that he had suffered severe damage to the axillary nerve in his shoulder, which impacts the deltoid muscle among others. He was told it was at least a 6-12-month injury.
“The trainers, the coaches, the players, everybody was involved, texting me like, ‘We know you’re going to shake back from it, just keep your head up, just keep going,’’’ Williams said. “Even [GM Andrew Berry]. I hopped on Zoom meetings with AB, and he was just telling me how proud he was of my off-the-field work and how I was attacking my rehab. Everybody motivated me to keep going, so that kept me pushing.’’
The Trolls Attack
At the same time, Williams had to deal with fans and trolls on social media accusing him of faking the injury and not having the heart and desire to play the game.
“That was kind of one of those things was messing with me too,’’ Williams said. “People don’t understand really what nerve damage is. It’s a serious matter for your health. Nerves are weird. They work on their own time, so you just never know.’’
Williams struggled to convey to fans what he was going through, and the Browns played it close to the vest.
“I thought about posting a picture of my shoulder before it happened so you can see that my body is retracting to support the muscle,’’ he said. “The nerves have the muscle turned off. It’s a lot going on.’’
He tried to convince the doctors that he could tackle with only his left arm, but they quickly shot that down.
“They were like, ‘It’s nothing to joke about, like this your life,’’’ Williams said. “I was told if I damaged it again [before it was healed] it’d be for life. Hearing things like that make you take more seriously what’s going on.’’
It’s also why the criticism on social media was so hard to take.
“I put a lot of work in for year two,’’ Williams said. “I wanted to be the best of the best. It was like, ‘Wow, I actually miss a whole year and people think it’s a fake?’ It’s not a fake. I don’t fake injuries and, you know, I’ve just never been that type of person. I love the game of football and I respect it so well. How could I fake an injury like that?’’
Williams says he plans to come back better than ever in 2021.John Kuntz, cleveland.com
He reveals it’s axillary nerve
Ultimately, Williams tweeted in December that it was the axillary nerve to help his critics understand that this was a real injury with a real name that they could look up.
“Just do the research on it, and you’ll see like the time frame,’’ he said. “Because me personally, I didn’t know nerves were that serious until I had the injury.’’
Williams also received advice from his nephew Justin Rogers, who plays football for UNLV and has come back from serious nerve damage in his leg.
“He tore his leg up in high school really bad and he was telling me just like, like ‘It’s going to come back. Like, it’s no doubt it don’t come back,’’’ he said. “Because his leg was like my shoulder. The nerve was taking forever to come back. He said, ‘Once it comes back, you’ll get like a high, a high sting in your shoulder’ and things like that. He really helped me get through it.’’
Williams also drew inspiration from Washington Football Team quarterback Alex Smith, who made it back onto the field in October after a life-threatening leg injury and infection that required 17 surgeries.
“Watching his process and what he did and he had his family supporting him, as long you’ve got that support, man, you can always keep going,’’ Williams said. “Them building him up and not letting him give up, that was the main thing I saw from him and it definitely gave me the [motivation].’’
Princess Khloe comes through
By the time Thanksgiving rolled around, Williams got just the elixir he needed to keep fighting. His fiancee, Taquanna Houston, and his daughter Khloe, who turned 4 last weekend, came up from Shreveport and stayed through the end of the season. Previously, they had remained at home because of COVID-19 concerns and Khloe being in pre-school.
“She’s the Energizer Bunny,’’ Williams said, lighting up when talking about her. “Before she got up here, she wanted a little puppy. So I surprised her with the little puppy and she loved this dog so much. It’s like, without this dog there’s no her. That was one of the best things for me, to see my daughter interacting with this dog. She loved it to death, and she was dressing up the dog. It kind of took my mind off thinking about the injury and rehab and stuff like that.’’
The Prince is coming soon
Williams got more great news on Feb. 13 when he popped a balloon and blue confetti flew out, revealing that the baby he and Taquanna have on the way is a boy. Like LeBron James’ chalk toss, he sprayed the confetti high into the air.
“I wanted a boy really bad and, surprise, thank God, we’re having a boy,’’ he said. “And it’s amazing man, I’ve been online shopping and making sure she’s taking her vitamins and getting all the good nutrients that my son needs. We’ve just been happy and excited.’’
The baby is due July 10, “so I’ll spend a couple of days with him and then I’ll be back out getting work in.’’
One thing he won’t do is name the baby Andraez Jr. after his real name.
“I want him to be better than me and have his own tradition at whatever he does,’’ Williams said.
The impending arrival of his son has motivated him even more to come back better and stronger. From the moment Khloe was born, Williams was a changed man.
“Taking on the parenthood role, everybody says it’s tough, but it’s actually amazing,’’ he said. “Just to watch your kids smile, just be happy and to give them a lot of love and support, it’s always been my thing. [I always knew] once I have a kid that it’s never about me anymore. Everything I do is about the reputation of Khloe and my family. Before I do anything, I think about them first.’’
The shoulder awakens
Around the same time of the gender reveal, Williams felt his shoulder coming back to life. A new beginning in so many ways.
“When I was first able to just to reach across my body, and hold it by myself, it was just like a big shock to me and I was happy,’’ he said. “I couldn’t wait to tell [the Browns medical staff] about the progression and how the shoulder was moving. It’s been it’s been a lot of excitement from there on out.’’
Williams arrived back in Cleveland on Monday and had a great checkup with the Browns medical staff that day. He estimates he’s about 60% of the way back, with five months to go before the start of training camp.
“The [doctors] said, ‘You know, we see it,’’’ Williams said. “They were just like ‘keep working, keep going.’’’
The fateful EMG test
But the true test came Wednesday when he had to undergo the intimidating EMG test. Would the muscle fire? Would it finally respond? It did, and he felt the same exhilaration he did tossing the blue confetti in the air during the gender reveal.
“#ReturnOfGreedy is official!’’ he tweeted on Thursday. “God is real!!”
He’s so excited, he won’t even hold it against the trolls who accused him on social media of dogging it. he knows they’re a vocal minority.
“This is kind of just my little sermon to the fans,’’ Williams said. “Don’t give nobody no negative feedback when they’re hurting and down. Just always be supportive an don’t ever think a player is just taking time off. We actually do read the comments and sometimes it can get under your skin.’’
He’s confident he’ll get an enthusiastic reception when he returns in the fall and “I just imagine running on the field and I’ll probably just jump in the stands and shake hands and just let everybody know I’m back and I’m better.’’
When the Browns made the postseason for the first time in 18 years and beat the Steelers in the playoffs, Williams was their biggest fan.
“All I could do was tweet and go live on Instagram, and just enjoy the moment like I’m there,’’ said Williams. “It was just very exciting.’’
The Browns have said they’re counting on Williams to start opposite Ward again this season, and share the defensive backfield again with Delpit, who’s making great strides in his comeback from the Achilles surgery.
Williams has been told the nerve will never get back to 100% but that he’ll be able to play at a high level with it at 85% to 90%. He might not be ready for mandatory minicamp in June if there is one, but plans to be ready to start the season.
“I’ll be the better Greedy,’’ he said. “[The injury] gave me time to have more knowledge of the game, so it wasn’t all bad. I was sitting down taking notes, doing what I do, getting ready for 2021 and shock the world.’’
–
Browns playoffs shirts, hats for sale: Here’s where Cleveland Browns fans can order shirts and hats celebrating the team qualifying for the 2020 NFL playoffs.
More Browns coverage
GM Berry expects Mayfield to have a ‘fantastic 2021 season’
J.J. Watt, Reggie White and the Not Quite Browns All-Stars: Lesmerises
Takeaways from Kevin Stefanski’s press conference: Podcast
Stefanski on 2021 Browns: ‘We go back to square one; We have a lot of work to do’
How Mayfield performed when put in position to succeed in 2020
Browns didn’t offer J.J. Watt more than the Cardinals, source says
Where did Mayfield improve most in 2020; what does it mean for 2021? Film Review
Who’s next for the Browns with Watt out of the picture? Hey, Mary Kay!
