Edward Eugene Williams (born September 8, 1961) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who played seven seasons as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East division. The Pa ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), including

Super Bowl XX Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

. Prior to that, he played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

as a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

College career

Ed Williams played college football at Texas, helping them to win Southwest Conference Championships in 1981 and 1983. In 1981, the Longhorns won the Cotton Bowl and finished ranked #2. In 1983 he had a game-ending safety against then-undefeated SMU that allowed Texas to retain its #2 ranking.

Professional career

Williams was selected in the 2nd round of the 1984 NFL draft by the New England Patriots with the 43rd pick overall. He was one of 17 Longhorns taken in the draft, breaking the record for most players drafted by a single school in one draft. He'd also been drafted by the San Antonio Gunslingers of the USFL, but never chose to play in that league. The Patriots moved him to right, outside linebacker and he played in most of the Patriots games, including

, which the Patriots lost, through his first 3 seasons, but was not a starter until 1987. He suffered a series of small injuries to his ankle and groin during that time. 1987 was his best season, starting in 7 games and recording his only interception, which he returned for 51 yards. He was resigned by the Patriots in 1988 and a month later suffered a serious knee injury and spent the 1988 season on the injured reserve. He was signed to a new one-year contract before the 1989 season, but he did not play that season. Before the 1990 season he was waived by the Patriots and then reclaimed the next day. He played in 15 games and was the starter 3 times that season, but continued to deal with an ankle injury.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ed 1961 births Living people American football linebackers New England Patriots players Texas Longhorns football players Players of American football from Odessa, Texas