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Williams likely faces long, painful future

Posted Oct 2, 2007 by Roy Cummings

Updated Oct 2, 2007 at 02:24 PM

TAMPA – Sometime later today or tomorrow, the Bucs will no doubt tell us that RB Cadillac Williams underwent “successful’’ surgery to repair the patellar tendon he tore in his right knee Sunday.

They won’t tell us how long they truly expect Williams to be out of action because in cases like this, time-tables for recovery are almost impossible to predict.

At best it will take Williams several months to recover from this injury. At worst it could take him several years. Either way, there’s a chance Williams will never be the same again.

“That injury at the running back position is a tough one to come back 100-perecnt from,’’ said Dr. Johnny Benjamin, chairman of orthopedics at Indian River Medical Center of Vero Beach. “Leg strength and drive are very important [and] hard to generate after this type of injury.”

LeCharles Bentley, a center for the Cleveland Browns, can attest to Dr. Benjamin’s findings. He tore his patellar tendon on the first day of training camp last year. He still hasn’t made it back.

He is currently on the Physically Unable to Perform list, the hope being that he will be well enough to attempt a comeback later on this month or early next month.

But Bentley has undergone four surgeries on his knee since he first injured it, including two for staph infections that developed inside the knee, and he admist he’ll never be 100 percent again.

“It will never be 100 percent and I’m not expecting it to be,’’ Bentley told the Cleveland News Herald earlier this year. “But if I can get it into the 90s, that’s good enough.”

It wasn’t quite good enough for fomer NFL linebacker Kailee Wong. Wong tore the patellar tendon in his right knee during a game in Oct. 2005. He returned a year later and played in 10 games but retired before the start of this season.

Nate Webster hasn’t retired. In fact, the former Bucs linebacker’s story may provide Williams with the kind of inspiration he needs to make a comeback himself.

After joining the Bengals as a free agent in 2004, Webster suffered a torn patellar tendon during a Week 3 loss to Baltimore of that year. He missed the rest of the 2004 season and all but one game of 2005 as a result.

He signed with the Denver Broncos prior to the start of the 2006 season but he only played in three games last year. This year, however, he is starting for the Broncos at strong-side linebacker and he’s making an impact.

Though the Broncos defense has not played up to its usual standards (it’s ranked sixth overall but is 31st against the run), Webster has played well and ranks fourth on the team in tackles with 26.

“It’s not even in my mind right now,’’ Webster said when asked by the Boulder Camera about his knee injury. “That’s a blessing for me to come out here and not even think of it and just play ball like back in the day like I used to.”

Williams may one day play ball like he used to as well. But that day is probably months, if not years, away.