Mike Williams has signed a three-year contract to stay in Seattle, the receiver confirmed Monday.
“I agreed to a three-year deal,” he said. “I’m happy to be here, I’m happy to be a part of the beginning, and I’m excited to. . . I can’t really put it into words, but I’m very blessed.”
Williams, who spent two years out of football, was given a tryout in April by Pete Carroll, his former college coach. Williams not only made the team, but he won a starting job and went on to be the Seahawks’ leading receiver with 65 catches for 751 yards. Because Carroll and the Seahawks gave Williams a chance, he wasn’t eager to test his value on the free agent market.
“I always felt like I needed to be loyal to Coach Carroll,” he said. “He gave me the opportunity. Obviously there was some excitement of maybe free agency and the possibilities, but I knew I wanted to be here, and if we could get close to where I wanted to be, I was going to make it happen.”
And now to the pressing question of the week, who will be throwing the ball to Williams and the rest of the receivers? Will it be Charlie Whitehurst, who was solid in his second career start, limiting mistakes to help Seattle to a 16-6 win Sunday, or Matt Hasselbeck, the starter all season who is expected to return to practice this week.
“Matt will be able to practice tomorrow and we think that he won’t be limited at all, so that should put together a good week for him to work his way back into playing for us,” Pete Carroll said.
Carroll did not, however, say who will be his starter this week.
“I’ve got to figure it out and make sure everybody’s OK,” Carroll said, noting that Whitehurst took a few shots himself. “We’ll find out where we are in the next day or so and determine that. . . It looks like we’ll split reps with those guys tomorrow and we’ll just figure it out as we go through the week.
“Right now our concerns are about health, making sure everything’s OK.”
Hasselbeck wasn’t happy about being held out despite making it through a pregame workout OK, which was fine by Carroll: “He wanted to play, he was ready to battle. He took it tough, he tried to talk me into it, he wanted to go. It was perfect, it was exactly the way he should have been.”
Pressed further about the QB situation, Carroll continued to be vague.
“We’ll find out during the week,” he said. “I don’t know. . . I don’t need to determine that yet. I know you all want me to nail that down for you, but I’m not going to, because I don’t know.”
Injury updates
G Chester Pitts suffered what Carroll described as a “pretty serious concussion” and won’t be available for Saturday’s game.
TE Chris Baker has a fractured hip and will also be out.
WR Brandon Stokley, who missed Sunday’s game with a concussion, is questionable to return this week according to Carroll.
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