Reginald Williams, Jr. (born May 17, 1983) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

wide receiver in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). Williams played college football for the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seat ...

, and earned consensus All-American honors. He was drafted by the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team pla ...

in the first round of the

2004 NFL Draft The 2004 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 24–25, 2004 at the Theater a ...

, and played five seasons for the team.

Early years

Williams was born in Landstuhl, West Germany. He attended

Lakes High School Lakes High School is located in Lakewood, Washington. It serves students from 9th grade to 12th grade. It is one of the two major high schools in the Clover Park School District. Daffodil Festival Every year, Lakes participates in the Pierce Co ...

Lakewood, Washington Lakewood is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 63,612 at the 2020 census. History Lakewood was officially incorporated on February 28, 1996. Historical names include Tacoma/Lakewood Center and Lakes Distri ...

. He led his Lakes Lancer high school football team to the championship game in his senior year and was the Associated Press Washington State Player of the Year.

College career

Williams attended the

, and played for the

Washington Huskies football The Washington Huskies football team represents the University of Washington in college football. Washington competes in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. Husky Stadium, located on campu ...

team from 2001 to 2003. He was a first-team All-

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

selection in 2002 and 2003, and was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American in 2002.

Professional career

Jacksonville Jaguars

Williams was drafted 9th overall in the

by the

. He was the third receiver taken behind

Larry Fitzgerald Larry Darnell Fitzgerald Jr. (born August 31, 1983) is a former American football wide receiver. Fitzgerald played in the National Football League for 17 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals. He played college football at University of Pittsbu ...

(3rd overall) and Roy Williams (7th overall). Williams put up disappointing numbers in his rookie season of

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. He rebounded the first half of

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris (dwarf planet), Er ...

, but in the second half, he had a slump brought on by a concussion. Through the first six weeks of the 2006 season, Williams was among the top receivers in the NFL. An ankle injury caused

Byron Leftwich Byron Antron Leftwich (born January 14, 1980) is an American football coach and former quarterback who is the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played in the NFL for ten se ...

to miss the remainder of the season. After

David Garrard David Douglas Garrard (born February 14, 1978) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons, primarily with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football at East Carolina and ...

became the starting

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, Williams' production slipped. Williams had his best game as a pro against the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

in Week 9 of the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

season, making six catches for 128 yards and one touchdown. His best professional season to date was in 2007, where he had 38 catches for 629 yards (an average of 16.6 yards per catch) and 10 touchdowns (more than twice his career total prior to 2007). In a game against the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

in Week 16, he broke the Jaguars' single season receiving touchdown record, with ten scores, record previously held by the retired Jimmy Smith.

Seattle Seahawks

After spending the 2009 season out of football, Williams signed with the

Seattle Seahawks The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle. The Seahawks compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) West, which they rejoined in 2002 a ...

on April 16, 2010. He was released from the

on June 18, 2010.

Sacramento Mountain Lions

On July 7, 2011, he signed with the

Sacramento Mountain Lions The Sacramento Mountain Lions was a professional American football team based in Sacramento, California that played in the United Football League (2009–2012), United Football League. The franchise originated as the California Redwoods, and playe ...

. On September 18, 2011, he made his season debut against the

Las Vegas Locomotives The Las Vegas Locomotives (called the Locos for short) were a professional American football team based in Las Vegas, Nevada that played in the United Football League. The team played their home games at Sam Boyd Stadium, home field for the Unive ...

. He had his first receiving touchdown in the 3rd quarter in that game. On October 4, 2011, he was released by the team.

Toronto Argonauts

On May 29, 2013, Williams was signed by the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

of the CFL. Williams played in both the

2013 CFL season The 2013 CFL season was the 60th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 56th season of the Canadian Football League. The pre-season began on June 12, 2013 and the regular season began on June 27, 2013. Regina, Saskatchewa ...

preseason games for the Argos. In those games he caught 4 passes for 42 yards and a touchdown. On June 22, 2013 Williams was released by the Toronto Argonauts.

NFL statistics

Receiving statistics Rushing statistics

Personal life

Williams was arrested in January 2006 and charged with possession of

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in variou ...

; he was permitted to enter a pretrial intervention program, which he successfully completed. He was arrested again and charged with DWI and possession of marijuana on February 27, 2009 in Houston, Texas; both charges were later dismissed. On April 5, 2009, police officials reported Williams was arrested on felony drug charges after scuffling with Houston police officers at a local night club. Police

taser A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon (company), Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed d ...

ed Williams and took him into custody at which time police found what appeared to be a bag of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

in his back pocket.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Reggie 1983 births Living people People from Lakewood, Washington Players of American football from Washington (state) All-American college football players American football wide receivers Washington Huskies football players Jacksonville Jaguars players Seattle Seahawks players Sacramento Mountain Lions players