Big Cat Williams

NFL player


Name=James Williams
Color=
fontcolor=
DateOfBirth=birth date and age|1968|3|29
Birthplace= Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
DateOfDeath=
College=Cheyney
Position=Offensive tackle
years=1991-2002
teams=Chicago Bears
ProBowls=2001
DatabaseFootball=WILLIJAM05
PFR=WillJa03
CBS=4532
NFL=4532

James Otis "Big Cat" Williams (born March 29, 1968) was an American football player. He played for the Chicago Bears throughout his 12-year NFL career. He was known as one of the top kick blockers in the league due to his height. Williams stood at 6 feet 7 inches.

He currently is a volunteer football coach at Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, Illinois.

Massive 6'7", 330-pound James Williams was signed as a free agent by Bill Tobin after the 1991 draft. Williams played defensive tackle on a 0-11 team at Cheyney State, and was hungry for more success in the pros. Williams worked his way into the defensive line rotation his rookie season, substituting for Steve McMichael and William Perry when needed. The huge rookie blocked a field goal at Buffalo, picked up his first sack at Green Bay, and helped with the "push" on William Perry's game-saving FG block against the NY Giants. Despite his success on the defensive side of the ball in 1991, head coach Mike Ditka and offensive line coach Dick Stanfel had other ideas for the "Big Cat". Williams played sparingly on defense in 1992 and was inactive for five straight games. The second-year tackle was having a tough time cracking the lineup with the emergence of 1991 second-rounder Chris Zorich, so Stanfel and Ditka decided to move him to offensive tackle midway through November. The two coaches salivated over the thought of the massive Williams at right tackle, eventually teaming with the equally-massive Louis Age on the left side. Soon after, Ditka and Stanfel were fired, but the new Dave Wannstedt regime's offensive line coach Tony Wise saw the same talent in Williams that their predecessors had. Big Cat relieved Keith Van Horne against Tampa in September, then was inactive for the final 12 games of the 1993 campaign. Starting in 1994, all the way through his final game with the Bears in 2002, Williams started an amazing 134 games at right tackle. Even more amazingly, Williams missed only limited action throughout those seasons, and didn't miss a single snap in 1995. In addition to his starting duties, Williams was the "main man" on the Bears' field goal defense unit, blocking or deflecting eight field goal attempts through 2001. He was voted as a Pro Bowl alternate after the 1998 season, and officially selected to his first all-star game following the 2001 season, during which the Bears finished 13-3 under head coach Dick Jauron.Williams became one of the teams' most visible ambassadors throughout his career, and was a roadgrader at his position. Williams was the veteran recipient of the Bears organization's Brian Piccolo award following 2001. he even appeared in an E-tv Wild on Chicago episode prior to the 2001 season. Williams was released by Chicago in a cost-cutting move on February 26, 2003.