Williams moves closer to home after signing contract with Saints
By SHELDON MICKLES
smickles@theadvocate.com
Advocate sportswriter
Associated Press file photo
Jimmy Wiliams, going for the ball against St. Louis' Torry Holt, right, will leave San Francisco for a one-year deal with New Orleans
Former Episcopal High School four-sport star Jimmy Williams moved into a home in Prairieville two months ago so he and his wife, Chandra, could be closer to the foundation they started last year.
Little did Williams know at the time that it would wind up being closer to his workplace as well. But it did Monday when the former San Francisco 49ers cornerback signed a one-year contract with the New Orleans Saints, who want him to add depth to their defensive backfield.
Williams, who spent the past four seasons with the 49ers, became an unrestricted free agent on March 2. He was eligible to sign with any NFL team -- including the Saints.
After preliminary discussions with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins, Williams, who played his college football at Vanderbilt, decided to come home and sign a one-year deal with a base salary of $540,000.
"When we bought the house, I had no idea I was going to be playing with the Saints," Williams said. "It was just one of those things. We came down during the (49ers) open date last season and just picked it out."
Williams, a 5-foot-11, 190-pounder, was midway through a season in which he started six of 12 games he played in. He had a career-high 47 tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery even though he missed four games because of injuries.
But Williams said the 49ers, under new coach Mike Nolan, didn't show much interest in re-signing him after the free-agency period began.
"We were talking to them and thought they had every intention of re-signing me," Williams said. "We really thought they valued me as a guy they wanted as a part of their organization. I kept getting calls from other teams and never heard anything back from (the 49ers)."
Originally a sixth-round draft pick of the Buffalo Bills in 2001, Williams was cut that summer and eventually signed with the 49ers.
An all-around athlete who also excelled in basketball, baseball and track at Episcopal, Williams played in 50 games with six starts and has 87 tackles, one interception, one sack and four fumbles recoveries for his NFL career.
Williams, The Advocate's Male Athlete of the Year in 1996, also averaged 21.0 yards on kickoff returns and 10.4 yards on punt returns, racing 89 yards with a punt for his first NFL touchdown in 2002. He led the league in punt returns with a 16.8 average in 2002.
Williams, 26, is expected to compete for playing time in the Saints' nickel and dime (five- and six-defensive back) packages among a group of cornerbacks that include starters Mike McKenzie and Fakhir Brown and backups Jason Craft and Fred Thomas.
Williams will also rejoin Saints secondary coach Willy Robinson, who served as the 49ers' defensive coordinator last season.
"He could tell the (Saints) staff about me because he was around me last season," he said. "It kind of went hand-in-hand: he knew me and I knew him.
"It all kind of played itself out through conversations with this coaching staff and talking with other teams," said Williams, who began working with his new teammates in their offseason program Monday. "We came down to visit the Saints and I was impressed with the staff and facilities. Since we just bought the house in Prairieville, it started being a pretty good fit."
Williams' wife, a New Orleans native, heads up his foundation -- the Jimmy Williams Intercepting Our Youth Foundation.
"It's great to be back home, to get a chance to play in front of the hometown crowd," Williams said. "We have a lot of fans down here, so it'll bring back some memories of what I did in high school. We're really excited about it."
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