Former NFL wide receiver Mike Williams has died, his agent told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday. He was 36. Agent Hadley Engelhard said Williams died Tuesday morning.
Williams has been hospitalized in intensive care in Tampa, Florida, since last week after a construction accident that left him partially paralyzed. The Tampa Bay Times, citing Tierney Lyle, the mother of Williams’ 8-year-old daughter, reported that he was taken off a ventilator on Thursday.
Williams was from Buffalo, New York, and played nearby at Syracuse University.
He burst onto the scene in 2010 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, catching 65 passes for 964 yards and 11 touchdowns. His touchdown-reception total set the single-season club mark at the time for any player, and he wound up second in Offensive Rookie of the Year voting.
Williams finished his career with 223 catches for 3,089 yards and 26 touchdowns in 63 games (52 starts) across four years with Tampa and one with the Buffalo Bills (2014).
