Is there even an “off season”??

James Smith Williams, NC State star, former NC State star legend, is now with Washington and he joins us. Was it good to get back in the gym with teammates or is this just more of the same for you? Yeah it's kind of more of the same but it was always fun you know seeing everybody and you know all the guys being back together it's always a good vibe. Is there even an off season for you? Yeah I mean I probably take about two months off. You have to give everybody time to recover. Playing was it 17 games it's no joke. There's no question. You also spent a little time injured last year correct?

I did. I don't remember you ever getting injured at state so how how did you deal with that? Yeah it was rough. I got a concussion playing against Sam Fran and you know it's a terrible way to end the season but you know I gave my body and my brain time to recover and you know I'm feeling great again. All right so when when you give yourself two months off what do you do? I live in California for a month. I travel as much as possible.

I was belief the Dominican. All the things that I like look at on tv you know during the season I'm like man I can't wait well not I can't wait I'm always excited to play football but you know when it's that time to relax you know that's that's where I'm going. All right so talk to me about the the way not just the the last year has there's so much stuff going on around the football club that I mean it I know you guys are all football and I know Ron Rivera does a good job of keeping that focus but there's so much noise around the organization how do you guys block all of that out? It can definitely be difficult at times you know we're always you know we see the news on Twitter we see the press clippings but I think for us it's kind of kind of like a foxhole mentality and that you know the guys in the locker room are the most important guys right our opinions matter the most and you know we know who we are as men type of deal so I think at times that that adversity has allowed us to bomb more of the team. James Smith Williams is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show. He plays with Washington as a defensive end.

Three sacks last year. You guys are probably the best unit on that team. What's it like playing for Ron Rivera?

Oh it's awesome. He's you know everything I read about when he was in Carolina and I was a kid growing up you know watching him coach those teams that's exactly who he's been so it's been a pleasure to be able to work with him my first couple years in the league. With everything that goes on with that club and all the the focus which is where you guys don't want it. Ron was the perfect guy like if you could like identify what it what it means for him to be a player's coach how how because that's the way I always felt like he was with the panthers that the players really loved him give me an idea of what it's like to be around him all the time. Yeah I mean I think he gets it I mean he's a guy who you know won a championship um as a player played for many years in the league one of the best defenses like he knows what it takes to win football games and you know when it's time to pull back off our bodies you know obviously you know there's more data points now everything's analytics driven but I think he has a really good feeling a really good sense to to know when to push and when to pull back. Now your your quarterback going into the season seems to be Sam Howell uh you cool with a Carolina guy running your running the show? You know I'm cool with it because they brought in Jacoby so at least he's just an NCAA guy in the room too so it's gonna work out.

Oh can we can we have a uh a like a training camp battle and we could have like we could have like helmet logos jockeying for position? That would be a interesting graphic but you know Sam's a great quarterback and you know Jacoby's great leader and has done great things in the league so um it's cool to be able to see Jacoby again has been a long time since I've seen him. Yeah look he had he had a great career at state and Jacoby's been around man he's uh he's he's been he's been like kind of a security blanket for a lot of teams I just want to go back to Sam here for a second um he does seem to have it excuse me excuse me he does seem to have a quality about him uh a leadership quality about him uh do you sense that even though you're in the other dressing room? Yeah um I think Sam's a very calm and collected guy right and you would never know how young he is how green he is because my mom is too big so it it was fun watching him play against the Cowboys I think we'll see more of the same this year. All right now what do you expect from uh from Jacoby? Um I don't know I think you know Jacoby's gonna be a leader for Sam a mentor and you know help Sam between to grow and develop as a quarterback. By the way do you know uh Sam Howe has never had a hamburger?

You know I didn't know that that is that's that's a fun fact. Yeah I don't know I don't know how you can grow up like with all the cookouts that we've got you know here how do you not how do you not stumble upon a hamburger although I guess the chicken sandwiches are uh are very good so what is the rest of the of the spring into the summer what is it like for you uh we've got these uh these off season uh this off season program you've got mini camp there's so many different things you got to go back to DC for uh so what is this whole stretch like for you? Yeah I'm just in DC during this period kind of from now until the beginning weeks of June um you know there's different phases of OTA so the first phase is just working out film and the second phase is kind of understood instruction and um continuing to work out and the third phase is solely football and then you know that our mini campus is kind of an extension of that third phase but except for the fact that it is required that you attend because everything else is voluntary.

So it seemed like they don't trust you guys it's like they don't trust you to work out on your own is it that's the way I look at it is that fair or no? No I think it's I think it's kind of depending on where you are as a team um you know we have a new OC and a young quarterback so I think all the reps and all the you know the snaps you can get in with Sam will only benefit us in the fall um and then you know different teams probably have uh different things if you're the chief right now it's probably more so about recovering and getting back getting everyone's bodies back healthy so it kind of depends on where you're at as an organization. James Smith Williams is joining us what is it like for you as a competitor to watch other teams in the playoffs? It's difficult um you know especially when when you're so close to being there yourself yeah um you know I got to get my rookie year and this past year we went on that you know phenomenal stretch of games then you know at the end there just just missed out by I think like half a game or a game um so it's always tough and it's you know it's much more tough when it's the Giants and the Cowboys and the Eagles. Right yeah and it makes your division is going to be uh is going to be very very difficult to win uh there's there's no question about it or even I mean even just to make the playoffs in the NFC East uh but yeah you guys had gone on such a run in the middle of the season it looked like you guys might even uh win that division how do you describe the fine line between winning and losing to somebody if a fan comes up to you uh like not not a little kid but a fan comes up what's the difference between winning and losing in the NFL?

I mean I think the margins are so slim you know it can be kind of traced back to a penalty to a one play really can make or break a game you know we're not having disparities where you have uh you know with all due respect you have a Clemson and you have like a FCS school where you know Clemson just has all the talent in the world you know NFL rosters are are talented from top to bottom so winning games is incredibly difficult in this league. Oh there's no question and depending on the division you play even just getting out of it uh can't be hard do you have do you have plans to come back uh to see your uh alma mater play this year? I do I would love to if the bye weeks work out and honestly you know depending on how far the canes go I would love to come back and watch them play as well but what you would just say shakes out. You got to come and wind the sirens sir. Oh I did it last year tell them tell them to bring me back.

All right no did they win the game you wound the siren for? I have no idea Adam it was the off season and me and my friends were having a great time. Okay on that note James Smith Williams all right man I appreciate your time I'll check in again I'm glad uh glad things are going well for you uh continued health and I'll talk to you later. I appreciate you Adam. You got to remember the outcome of the game. All right well clearly James Smith Williams had a good time at the uh the Hurricanes game he wound the siren at.