Former BYU Football star Jamaal Williams is the starting running back on Green Bay’s first depth chart, but he still has work to do to keep that spot.
Jamaal Williams has a reason to dance, although he never needs a reason to dance.
After a breakout rookie campaign for the Green Bay Packers last season, he’s listed as the starting running back on the Packers’ newly-released depth chart.
It’s the first depth chart of the fall camp, and it will likely be what’s used by the team when they play their first preseason game against the Tennessee Titans on Thursday night.
That doesn’t mean that Williams will be the starter once the regular season starts. He’s locked into a tight three-way battle with veteran Ty Montgomery and fellow second-year rusher Aaron Jones. However, Jones will miss the first two games of the season after violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy.
The fact that Williams enters the preseason as the starter does indicate that he’s got the inside track to become the starter. He’ll have to impress against the Titans to keep himself ahead of the pack, and continue to do it throughout the postseason.
The former Cougar got his chance to be the primary back late last season, when the other primary runners went down with injury. He finished his rookie campaign with 556 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground. He also added 262 yards and two scores through the air.
Williams left BYU as the Cougars’ all-time leading rusher, with 3,901 yards. He scored 36 total touchdowns, and also set BYU’s single-game rushing record in 2016 against Toledo, totaling 286 yards with five touchdowns.
In all, Williams is one of 19 Cougars who are currently on NFL rosters. Teams have to cut their rosters down to 53 players by September 1st, though, so that number may drop by the time the regular season kicks off.