Cardinals tight end Maxx Williams reflects on road back from knee injury, nerve damage
Arizona Cardinals tight end Maxx Williams loves the game of football almost more than anything else in the world and even when it left him with an awkward gait and bipedally challenged, he loved it even more and he hopes it never ends.
Yes, you read that correctly.
That’s because Williams, despite having battled back from a debilitating right knee injury just a year ago that left him with likely permanent nerve damage for the rest of his life, has learned to come to grips with his situation and embrace all the many challenges that have come with it.
Williams, 28, was Arizona’s starting tight end when he caught a pass in the flat from Kyler Murray during a Week 5 game against the 49ers and ended up being submarined by cornerback Emmanuel Mosely on the right sideline. Williams’ knee was shredded, but it turned out to be even worse than that.
In addition to suffering a torn ACL, something which has befallen three Cardinals starters this season, from left guard Justin Pugh to tight end Zach Ertz and most recently, Murray, Williams also sustained severe nerve damage that has left him with a bad case of “drop foot.”
It's a condition that makes a person drag their foot, unable to lift it, and it can not only become debilitating but for many, somewhat embarrassing.
“For me, personally, I’m used to it now,” Williams told The Republic. “I mean, at first, it was something I struggled with. I’m very self-conscious of it. I mean, I was. Not anymore. Right now, I’ve accepted it. I joke about it. I mean, it happens. It’s football. That’s what I told myself.
“When I signed up for this game, I knew every kind of injury was possible. I never thought I would end up getting nerve damage in my knee. I didn’t know that was possible; I had never even heard about it.”
In recent history, there are at least known cases of NFL players that have been left with a similar affliction. One is Jaylon Smith, a linebacker for the Giants. The other is former quarterback Alex Smith, who sustained a life-threatening leg injury during a game in 2018. He’s the one who suggested Williams wear a specific brace to help lift Williams’ right foot.
It was sitting at the bottom of Williams’ locker when he pointed it out. It attaches to his shoes or, in this case, his cleats, and wraps around his calf.
“I can’t lift my foot up at all,” he said, “but this brace does it for me. I have no muscle or nerve function to lift my foot up at all. I can’t turn my foot out at all. But when I’m wearing it, it helps me dorsi flex so I don’t have to and then I can walk. If I’m wearing it, you guys would have never noticed it.”
When he isn’t, though, it’s obvious. Williams must crank up his right knee just to take a step. He can walk, but during his year-long recovery from knee surgery, there were major concerns that he might not be able to even do that, let alone resume an NFL playing career after seven seasons as a former second-round pick out of Minnesota.
“I was dealing with a lot of other stuff at the time; that was the least of my worries,” he said of his noticeable, non-brace-wearing steps. “I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know if I was ever going to walk normal again. I definitely didn’t know if I was ever going to play again.”
Williams, though, the son of a former NFL player, Brian Williams, and the grandson of a former NFL player, Robert Williams, persevered. Despite a setback or three, he fought his way back from the Physically Unable to Play list, an activation to the regular roster only to eventually be cut, re-signed to the practice squad and ultimately, brought back to the 53-man unit.
During Arizona’s Week 11 game this season in Mexico City against the 49ers, the team he was playing when he originally got injured, Williams caught a pass for seven yards from Murray. It wasn’t much, but it meant everything in the world to Williams. It meant redemption, and a path back to normalcy.
“It’s definitely a catch on my list I’m going to remember forever,” he said. “It’s up there.”
Williams has caught two more passes since then and hopes to be even more involved in the Cardinals’ offense this weekend when the team plays the Falcons in Atlanta on Sunday, but just having the jovial, always-smiling, red-headed tight end around the team has been an inspiration to all.
“There’s nobody that smiles more, enjoys the game more or appreciates what he has more than Maxx,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury said. “That’s why our locker room and our entire staff loves the guy. … He’s pure joy. He loves the game more than anybody I’ve been around.”
Rookie tight end Trey McBride, the Cardinals’ second-round draft pick, calls Williams “a warrior who comes to work with the right attitude every day.”
“He’s a guy that I came in and looked up to right away, a guy who has kind of showed me the ropes and I’m very grateful for the relationship I have with Maxx,” McBride continued. “Just seeing him come to work and how happy he is every day makes me want to be here and he puts a smile on my face, for sure.”
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Sadly, Williams said he knows of no procedures that will ever restore the nerve damage to his knee. It’s complicated, he said, and there are no good answers to the problem.
“I’m at the point now,” he said, “that whatever can naturally happen will happen. It’s been over a year now. I’m not going to say it’s never (going to get better), but most likely this is my reality for the rest of my life.”
If it is, that’s OK with Maxx Williams. All that really matters to him, he said, is that he was able to return after a lengthy and turbulent rehab process and play the game once again that he loves so dearly.
“It was one of those things that I had to be able to come back and play for myself,” he said. “My wife, my family, they told me, ‘It’s up to you.’ But I wanted to be able to look myself in the mirror five years from now and know that if I didn’t make it back, I didn’t because I couldn’t, but I had to try. I did it and I love it even more every day.
“I never want this to end. I don’t want the NFL to end. I love what I do. It’s when you enjoy what you do and you have fun every day, I mean what more can you ask for? When you can wake up every day and say you’re going to work and you enjoy your job, I’m going to say, ‘I don’t care what I’m going to do afterwards.’ As long as I can wake up every day and enjoy what I’m doing and enjoy my family, (expletive) it, I’m having a good life.”
Injury updates
Running back James Conner (illness), defensive end Zach Allen (hand) and cornerback Antonio Hamilton (hip) missed their second straight day of practice for the Cardinals on Thursday, but three others were upgraded to limited – right tackle Kelvin Beachum (knee/ankle), receiver A.J. Green (illness) and cornerback Marco Wilson (neck).
Linebacker Tanner Vallejo (knee) was limited Thursday, as was center Billy Price (knee) and safety Charles Washington (chest).
Three players did not practice for the Falcons. They were guard Chuma Edoga (knee), tight end Feleipe Franks (concussion) and running back Cordarrelle Patterson (rest, not injured related). Safety Jovante Moffatt (calf) was limited.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Cardinals TE Maxx Williams reflects on road back from knee injury
