Jets should sign Karlos Williams for 2016

The New York Jets have dealt with some injury issues at the running back position, and they met with free agent Karlos Williams on Tuesday. Williams would be a low-risk high-reward signing for New York.

On Tuesday afternoon, it was reported by Buffalo Bills beat reporter Sal Capaccio that recently released running back Karlos Williams was visiting with the New York Jets. Williams had cleared waivers the day prior, and he drew interest from several teams.

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Williams had an impressive rookie season with Buffalo in 2015-2016 as he recorded 517 rushing yards with an average of 5.6 yards per carry. He came into the start of Bills’ training camp severely overweight. He failed to stop gaining weight throughout the course of training camp. He also is facing a four-game suspension in 2016 due to a violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.

It is completely unquestionable that Williams brings a ton of baggage to the table. It would be impossible to bank on Williams’ talents due to his many issues. The first thing that comes into question is Williams’ work ethic. The fact that the second-year running back came into Bills training camp overweight, and reportedly continued to gain weight portrays him in a negative light. If he were to come to the Jets and continue that trend, he would be a total waste of time and energy.

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The other glaring issue with Williams is his recent violation of the league’s substance abuse policy.

Whenever a player violates the substance abuse policy, there is always potential for it to become a re-occurring issue. If this were the case with Williams, he would clearly be a poor addition to the organization. The hope would be that his release from the Bills was a major wake-up call for Williams.

While there are plenty of negatives, there are also many positives to Williams.

Williams saw a lot of work during the 2015-2016 season while Bills starting running back LeSean McCoy was sidelined with an injury. He flashed a large amount of potential as a big-bodied, powerful rusher with great speed and agility. He has the size to be utilized in short-yardage situations to go along with the speed to break off big plays.

Another major positive to Williams is that he is very young at just twenty-three years of age. It is rare to find a player as young is Williams that has been as productive as he has been. There is plenty of room for growth with Williams, and he has the potential to be a very good lead back in the NFL.

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All in all, Williams is a young and talented player, who could be brought to the Jets for a considerably low price. If the team wanted to bring Williams in, they could certainly get him on a very team-friendly contract with little risk involved. Only time will tell as to whether the Jets are actually going to proceed to add Williams to the roster.