This Chiefs player’s backstory includes delivering pizzas — and sticking with a dream

A friend sent Joshua Williams a direct message last week, wishing him the best of luck in Super Bowl LVIII.

While also adding a video he had to show him again.

The clip was from 2020. It showed Williams walking into a party and hanging out for a few minutes with people he’d just met.

Williams made quick friends, exchanging his Snapchat profiles with some folks there. A few minutes later — camera still rolling — the group gathered and said they had something for him.

Williams was handed $150 in cash:

The best tip he’d ever received as a Domino’s Pizza driver.

“At the time,” Williams said this week with a laugh, “they just thought I was a delivery guy.”

Those friends have had quite the story to follow on their Snapchat accounts ever since.

In his second year as a cornerback for the Chiefs, Williams is about to make his second Super Bowl appearance this weekend when Kansas City takes on the San Francisco 49ers. He went from having football taken away to reaching the sport’s pinnacle — all in less than four years.

Williams’ unconventional path has included living on his own ... in high school. Making his own football luck ... without playing in actual games.

And also heeding his father’s often-repeated motto ... even when facing more obstacles than other NFL prospects nationwide.

While sitting at the team hotel this week, Williams could reflect on his path from Fayetteville, North Carolina, to the world’s biggest stage — for a second time.

“It’s a blessing to be where I am,” he said, “and I don’t take it for granted.”

An early vision

Joshua Williams had a problem as a senior receiver at Jack Britt High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina — and a big one, at that.

“The hands were iffy,” Williams said with a smile.

Then-assistant coach Brian Frierson had a similarly honest take on Williams’ early ability this week: “He couldn’t catch.”

Frierson, though, had a vision. He couldn’t get one thing out of his mind while watching the lean and athletic Williams on a football field — a player who could “jump out of the gym” with 10.7-second 100-yard dash speed.

When Frierson played college ball at North Carolina Central, he was teammates with a player with similar movement skills: cornerback Ryan Smith. Though Frierson was a senior and Smith was a freshman, Frierson could just tell Smith was different with his work ethic and athleticism.

Smith was later drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, playing seven seasons as a pro.

So Frierson made the initial pitch to Williams: He needed to change his position to defensive back.

“I just implanted it in his head,” said Frierson, now the nickels and safeties coach at Division II UNC Pembroke. “But I really was just speaking from a vantage point of, ‘Hey, you got tools where you can actually go to the next level if you really put your mind to it.’”

The switch went better than even Frierson expected. Williams’ track background gave him a foundation for coming out of breaks, as those motions were similar to starting a race out of the blocks.

Meanwhile, Williams — at 6-foot-2 on his way to 6-3 — was rarely picked on by opposing offenses, towering over receivers while possessing make-up speed any time he did get beat.

Frierson also could see Williams becoming more mature, helped by what he was going through in his home life.

Williams wasn’t just the man of the house at the time; as a senior in high school, he was the only one there.

‘Up to the challenge’

George Williams — with a military background — said he couldn’t turn down the opportunity.

After he accepted a yearlong contracting position overseas, there was just one question: What should his son, Joshua, do for his senior year of high school?

George said it didn’t take him long to come to a decision.

“I knew he was up to the challenge,” George said.

It remained a transition. Joshua calls George the “biggest role model in my life,” as his father raised him and his older sister, Mattisen, after his mother passed away from a heart condition when Joshua was 6 months old.

Now, starting when he was 16 in August 2016, Joshua lived alone at home once his father started the new appointment.

There was still plenty of support around — Mattisen went to a nearby college, while another aunt lived a few miles away — though Joshua officially remained on his own.

That meant buying groceries. Cleaning. Doing household chores, and fixing things that he could.

While also learning — eventually — how to ask for help. For a stretch in December, the house’s water heater went out, with Joshua taking a few weeks of cold showers before finally asking his dad what he should do.

Soon, George arranged a repairman. And after that, the biggest issue was George’s bank account, which showed numerous $8.57 charges from a local burger joint.

Joshua, repeatedly, was getting the “Big double burger tray” order from “Cook Out,” with cheese fries, chicken nuggets and a quesadilla on the side.

“That’s when I got that call,” Joshua said. “(Dad) was like, ‘Hey, you can’t eat Cook Out twice a day.’”

Words to live by

Joshua Williams was on a Zoom call with Fayetteville State teammates when he received the bad news.

There wasn’t going to be a college football season. COVID had canceled his junior year.

“I was definitely upset,” Williams said.

It was summer of 2020, and Williams couldn’t help but feel his personal momentum had been sidetracked. After a strong sophomore season at Fayetteville State — a historically Black college (HBCU) in his hometown — he’d done something noteworthy: played well enough to attract the attention of NFL scouts at his small, Division II school.

There was no other way to spin this: Williams could get left behind. While Power Five teams continued their fall seasons through the pandemic, Williams couldn’t play in games at his lower-level school, making an already improbable journey to the NFL that much more difficult.

“That’s a long time,” Williams said, “to just be out of football.”

Only looking back today can Williams see it was best for him.

He remained focused, keeping a daily workout routine with Frierson at New Century Middle School down the block. Frierson said he would invite other players in a group message daily, but only one person never skipped the afternoon sessions.

That was Williams, who often went through agility exercises and cornerback drills with Frierson alone.

“Sometimes you get the right person in your life to help you develop and maximize all your potential, and I was blessed that he was there,” Williams said. “He 100% squeezed everything he could out of me.”

Williams also said he learned more about the game than he ever had before. Fayetteville State kept up Zoom position meetings, with Williams having more time to understand nuances like offensive formations, zone coverages and how defensive backs should trade responsibilities on certain route concepts.

Ever since Williams was a boy, his father had repeated a mantra that became ingrained: “I stay ready to keep from getting ready.” The words echoed through his mind as he worked out through the summer and fall while preparing for his next opportunity in 2021.

He had additional free time, though, as online classes and workouts only took up part of his day during a stretch of COVID lockdown.

With Williams eventually deciding to get a part-time job.

‘Not afraid of hard work’

Joshua Williams had a military ID, which allowed him access to Fort Bragg and a wealth of customers.

And his gray 2008 Infiniti G35 — with a scratch on the driver’s side from headlight to taillight — was the vehicle for his new employment.

From 4 p.m. to midnight, Williams became a Domino’s delivery driver.

“It was a cool little job,” Williams said.

And needed, Williams said. Not only did the spending money help him with gas, but it also allowed him to make purchases without needing to ask his dad for funds (while also supporting a newfound hobby of stock trading with the Robinhood app).

Williams made $7 an hour, with about 20 pizza runs per night. Tips were usually $3-$5 for each dropoff, and each night would end with dish-cleaning duty before he could go home.

“He’s not afraid,” George Williams said, “of hard work.”

Previously, in high school, Joshua worked at a car wash for money. He says it’s the most demanding job he’s had, as scrubbing, vacuuming and buffing left him tired and soaked at the end of long days.

When Williams’ Infiniti started having issues, he shifted from Domino’s to a security job at Walmart. That position upped his pay to $18 an hour.

“In college,” Williams said with a grin, “I felt like Bill Gates.”

There were downsides. That Walmart location had “a lot of crime in the area,” Williams said, which meant he often witnessed fights, thefts and homelessness.

The work was mostly straightforward, though. Williams was mostly a “bluff,” standing at the front of the store to look menacing and discourage shoplifting. He’d rotate to certain checkpoints in the store, then spend an hour in the parking lot, driving around a small SUV with a flashing light on top.

His final aspirations remained. He listened to podcast episodes of Shannon Sharpe and Skip Bayless on his AirPods inside; then, when parked in his SUV, he would pull up the late Sunday afternoon NFL game on his phone during weekend shifts.

That was just over three years ago — before a strong senior year at Fayetteville State and the ensuing two-year Super Bowl run with the Kansas City Chiefs.

“I did what I was supposed to do through that COVID year,” Williams said this week, “and now I’m here.”

Staying ready

Chiefs defensive backs coach Dave Merritt first remembers Joshua Williams because he was staring up at him during an NFL Combine interview.

The 6-3 cornerback definitely had the look — even if his tape wasn’t always perfect.

Merritt asked Chiefs general manager Brett Veach if the Chiefs could bring Williams in for a Top-30 visit at the team facility.

“In doing that, I was able to have a conversation with him. And so intellectually, I said, ‘OK, well, this kid has something,’’’ Merritt said. “He may be lacking in one spot as far as football, but I can teach him that.”

Merritt lobbied for Veach to take him in the 2022 Draft. The Chiefs later selected Williams in the fourth round — the top HBCU player taken.

Chiefs safeties coach Donald D’Alesio said, at the time, coaches liked that Williams had shown some versatility and football knowledge on film.

“I think was something that stuck out to all of us, where it’s like, ‘All right, mentally and physically, he’s gone through it,” D’Alesio said. “And then you see the athletic ability on tape. It would just be getting him up to speed in our system.”

Williams split time at cornerback with fellow rookie Jaylen Watson for most of last year, though his playing time dipped toward the end of the regular season.

That was before the AFC Championship Game, when Chiefs starter L’Jarius Sneed left early with a concussion. Williams played 59 snaps that contest, while also contributing a fourth-quarter interception that teammate Bryan Cook deflected.

Williams had stayed ready to keep from getting ready.

And this year showed further growth. Merritt says Williams better understands zone coverages, while defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo says Williams is someone “that just keeps getting better and better.”

“He’s one of those guys that if you coach him up on something or you need to get better, you know he’s gonna do it,” Spagnuolo said. “He’s gonna do everything he can to do it exactly like you asked him to do. And as a coach, that’s all you can really ask for.”

Williams has seen his playing time increase during this postseason run. He’s combined for 77 snaps in KC’s three playoff games, allowing one pass for six yards on the four targets that have come his way, according to Pro Football Focus.

In this stretch, Merritt said Williams has been an underrated part of the Chiefs’ defensive success.

“You’ll see it during the Super Bowl. I truly believe this kid is gonna have a great game,” Merritt said. “And in my opinion, the sky’s the limit for him going in the future.”

A photographic flashback

Joshua Williams doesn’t always need to stay grounded; he says Snapchat often does that for him.

The app, when he opens it on his phone, flashes back often to what he was doing this day in previous years. Earlier this week, he noticed he wore similar clothes in those old photos — a jacket, belt, jeans, and a pair of Jordan sneakers — while shown in different locations.

Last year’s Super Bowl in Phoenix. The Senior Bowl in Alabama the year before that.

And a life of side jobs — and without football — in another one earlier.

“That’s the daily reminder, right there,” Williams said, “remembering where I was a few years ago.”

He knows he has much to be thankful for.

That includes a father who was there for him, with advice that never became outdated. And a coach who pushed him, seeing something in him that he didn’t grasp himself.

And also an organization that took a chance on him, developing him while believing his best days are ahead.

Williams said he’s glad to have made it this far.

While vowing to never forget the past that’s gotten him here.

“It’s humbling,” Williams said. “Anytime I’m thinking, ‘Oh, I’m some big Super Bowl champ,’ I get reminded, ‘Oh, I was working at the car wash or working at Domino’s.’

“I’m a normal dude. I don’t ever really try to put myself too high.”