Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Nick Williams had is entire rookie season wiped out by knee injury suffered late in training camp last year and he detailed the nature of it in a recent interview on ESPN 970 Radio.
“It was pretty severe,” said Williams. “What happened was, I sprained my MCL and I sprained my MPCL. The MPCL holds your kneecap on a medial.”
Williams, who was drafted by the Steelers last April in the seventh-round out of Samford, went on to say that his kneecap popped out and back in and that it was very painful.
Although Williams suffered the injury in August, he didn’t have surgery performed until October and as a result, it looks like there’s a chance he won’t be ready to fully participate in the early OTA practices, even though he said he started running again back in early March.
“Just a little more work to do, but I’m on the latter part of it,” Williams said of his rehab.
The Steelers rookie mini camp runs from May 16-18 and while Williams would be eligible to participate in those practices due to him missing last season, it doesn’t sound like he will be able to. The first set of OTA practices begin on Tuesday, May 27 – the day after Memorial Day, so even that might be pushing it. At the very least, he should be good to go come the end of July when the Steelers report to Latrobe for training camp.
