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Pos: LB
Height: 6'0"
Weight: 235 lbs
College: Henderson State
Years Rider: 2
Years Pro: 8

Hometown: Tampa, Florida

2002 Regular Season:  Second time around for K.D. who was not offered a contract renewal from the Green Bay Packers this year.  Riders hoping he is a different man now than he was five years ago when he was chased out of Regina by former head coach Jim Daley.  This time with the Riders, Williams has lost the cornrows and golden front tooth.  Back in 1997, Riders had an awesome defence based on three excellent and experienced linebackers - Williams, Lamarr McGriggs and Henry Newby.  Williams had spectacular games and was especially able to get it up for the big ones.  The biggest game of the year was when the Riders hosted Doug Flutie and the undefeated Toronto Argonauts.  Williams was making tackles sideline to sideline, but saved the biggest play on an interception of a Flutie pass that he took back 30 yards for a TD.  Riders beat Toronto 27-23.  Not long after that, Williams and McGriggs were quoted in the Globe and Mail making disparaging remarks about the Roughriders, claiming that the team was split along racial lines.  Deemed a disruptive influence on the team, the pair were traded to Hamilton in the middle of the season to Hamilton for next to nothing.  McGriggs got to play, but Williams finished up the season on the bench and joined the Dallas Cowboys in 1998.  Dallas reassigned Williams to Rhein Fire of NFL Europe before he got the chance to go to training camp with the Cowboys.  Was cut from the team and signed by Kansas City Chiefs and remained on the practice roster.  In 1999, was signed by Oakland Raiders on the recommendation of assistant coach Woodrow Lowe, who is the older brother of former Rider LB great, Eddie Lowe.  Won a starting position in camp with his strong play.  In 2000, was signed by New Orleans Saints but was traded to Green Bay Packers during training camp.   Spent next two years with the Pack, playing mostly special teams, but also saw spot starting duty at outside linebacker.

Peter King’s Postcards from Camp – August 17, 1999 CNNSI

And I really liked the aggressiveness and playmaking ability of high-motor linebacker K.D. Williams, who might just unseat veteran journeyman Richard Harvey at an outside slot if he keeps up this kind of play. Williams had two sacks of Dallas quarterbacks and followed up the second with a bruising four-yard tackle-for-loss of Dallas running back Denvis Manns, then followed that up by leveling the Dallas returner on the kickoff return following the game's only touchdown. Interesting prospect. He played for two CFL teams then went to work as a skycap in the Tampa airport for a year and a half before landing in Dallas in 1998, getting cut, signing with Kansas City, getting cut, and landing in Raiders camp. He's smallish at 6-foot and 235 pounds, but he'll be an asset if Jon Gruden keeps him.

Also from the same article:

CAMP ODDITY: Sunday's opponent, Dallas, had players on the sideline with the first names of Flozell, Ebenezer, Singor (Mobley of the Edmonton Eskimos), MarTay, Zebbie, Dat, Denvis, Beau, Izell, Peppi , Kavika and Chance (McCarty who has played for the Roughriders). My personal favorite, however, was LaDouphyous.(McCalla, now a cornerback with the Roughriders).

Flying First-Class

Former skycap K.D. Williams now starts at linebacker for the Raiders

Posted: Tuesday September 14, 1999 03:36 PM

By Peter King  of CNNSI

No player was happier to see the first Sunday of the NFL season than K.D. Williams, a twice-cut outside linebacker who didn't just stick with the Raiders but also started in their opener against the Packers at Lambeau Field. Not bad for a guy who's eight months removed from working as a skycap at Tampa International Airport.

The six-foot, 235-pound Williams plays like a Tasmanian devil, is hard to block at linebacker, raises hell on special teams and is grateful to everyone in the NFL who has given him as much as a look. "Thank you, thank you, Oakland Raiders!" he said during training camp. "And thank you, Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs, even though you cut me. Every day I'm on the practice field, I just really appreciate being here."

The journey to Oakland began at Division II Henderson (Ark.) State, where Williams played for two seasons. From 1995 through '97 he did stints with Winnipeg, Saskatchewan and Hamilton of the CFL; in the spring of '98 he played for Frankfurt of NFL Europe; and then last fall he failed trials with Dallas ("I went home and cried for a week," Williams says) and Kansas City. After being released from the Chiefs' practice squad last November, Williams was working at the airport. A short time later he received encouraging words from Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp, whom Williams had met at a Tampa nightclub. "Keep plugging," said Sapp, who upon learning of the linebacker's plight wouldn't let Williams carry his bags. "All you need is for one guy in this league to like you. Just one, and you've got a job."

"What ate at me was knowing I could compete with these guys, and there I was, carrying their bags," recalls the 26-year-old Williams. "I mean, I picked off Doug Flutie in Canada. I have so much passion for the game. I knew I could play, but I thought I wouldn't get another chance. I was always angry with the Bucs because they'd never give me a tryout."

But after defensive assistant Woody Lowe was hired from the Chiefs last winter, he persuaded the Raiders to sign Williams as a potential reserve linebacker and special teams player. Williams went one better: He had 2 1/2 sacks in a preseason game against the Cowboys and beat out six-year veteran James Folston for the strongside linebacker job. Last year the Raiders ranked fifth in the league in total defense but got only three sacks from that position.

"He's energetic and aggressive, sometimes too aggressive," says Oakland defensive coordinator Willie Shaw of Williams. "He really runs hard to the ball, and now that he's learned to play within the framework of the defense, I think he's really going to help us."

In the Raiders' 28-24 loss to the Packers on Sunday, Williams did just that. He had seven tackles and recovered a fumble, and his interception of Brett Favre set up the touchdown that put Oakland up 17-14. "I guess sometimes good stuff does happen to people who wait," Williams said on Monday. "Just look at me."