Connor Williams setting in with Seattle Seahawks
FOXBOROUGH, MA - SEPTEMBER 15: Seattle Seahawks center Connor Williams (57) during a game between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks on September 15, 2024, at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. (Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Ico (Fred Kfoury III / Icon Sportswire / Getty Images)
RENTON, Wash. - Two games into the season for the Seattle Seahawks, center Connor Williams is starting to feel more comfortable with his new surroundings.
Williams signed with Seattle in mid-August and only had three weeks to get up to speed with his new team. Additionally, he was coming off a torn ACL in December that had limited him physically as well as he looked to get back into form. But Williams has still played every snap at center for Seattle over the first two games of the season as Williams' former team – the Miami Dolphins – gets set to visit this weekend.
"It's been a bombardment of information, but it's been good," Williams said. "It's starting to slow down and starting to kind of feel like accustomed to the building and the people, and can find my place and niche on the team. So it's catching up."
Despite the truncated timetable to get prepped for the season opener, Williams wasn't surprised he was able to play straight away. It's exactly what Williams and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, had told teams that were interested in him back in the summer.
"When I was in free agency and we said we were going to play game one, we meant it," Williams said.
While the offensive line has had its issues overall, Williams has played decently well given the realities of his return to the field. Being at full strength nine months after an ACL injury is a big ask, especially when the job involves trying to move 300-pound linemen.
Head coach Mike Macdonald said Wednesday that Williams has played well through two games and made a leap in performance last Sunday in New England.
"I thought he played well for what we asked him to do and how fast he ramped up," Macdonald said. "If you ask him, he's probably frustrated a little bit about how he played the first game. I thought it was pretty dang good. And then I thought you saw a big jump into the second game. So if we can stay on that trend, we'll be cooking."
Williams didn't make much of a contest against his former team this weekend, saying only it would be "interesting and exciting" to face them. Williams did say he hated to see the injury quarterback Tua Tagovailoa sustained last week as he knows about Tagovailoa's concussion history.
"I mean, it was awful," Williams said. "I mean, you obviously never wish for something like that, and definitely with his history. I mean, just prayers out for him, his family."
Tagovailoa was placed on injured reserve and will miss four games for Miami. That leaves Skylar Thompson as the starter this week for the Dolphins.
"He's a great player," Williams said of Thompson. "I mean, he obviously did great at (Kansas) State, and then the times he did step in, he held the team well."
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