In an effort to get ahead on bringing in depth at safety for 2024, the Buffalo Bills signed former Chicago Bears S Kendall Williamson to a futures contract back on January 22nd.
Williamson comes to the Bills following spending the season on the practice squad with the Bears after getting drafted by them in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft. He played his college ball at Stanford receiving multiple Academic All-American honors.
Below are the known injuries for Williamson and any concerns moving forward.
College
2018 Stanford Cardinals
No publicly reported injuries, made career debut against Oregon.
2019 Cardinals
Undisclosed injury, vs Washington, missed 1 game
Williamson missed the contest against UCLA with an undisclosed injury suffered against Washington.
2020 Cardinals
No publicly reported injuries.
2021 Cardinals
No publicly reported injuries.
2022 Cardinals
Undisclosed injury, vs Washington State, missed 1 game
Williamson suffered an undisclosed injury against Washington State which forced him to miss the following week against Utah. He was questionable heading into the game but was unable to suit up.
Undisclosed injury, vs California, missed 1 game
Williamson appeared to be working through his injury from the Washington State game and couldn’t finish the Cal game. This forced him to miss the season finale against Brigham Young.
NFL
2023 Chicago Bears
No publicly reported injuries.
Buffalo Bills Injury Impact
Williamson missed three games due to injury during his five years at Stanford. Unfortunately, reporting wasn’t detailed enough to identify the specifics of the injury.
The only injury that can somewhat be identified is a left elbow injury according to the picture below. According to the description from Wikipedia, he was playing against Notre Dame which was the season finale during the 2021 season. He appeared in every game that season according to the team bio.
He was injured against Utah earlier that season but it’s unknown whether this injury related to the elbow brace later against Notre Dame.
Regardless of the injury specifics, he didn’t miss much time in college and didn’t appear to miss any injuries in the preseason playing for the Bears. Williamson certainly has the potential to compete for a roster spot especially with the turnover in the secondary.
The Bills don’t have anything invested in him at this point other than keeping him around during the offseason.
Hopefully he can show his potential and compete for a roster spot this upcoming season. I wish him the best of luck.
Top Photo Credit: Nam Y. Huh/AP
