Williams grinding for roster spot on Colts' D-line

Aug. 27—WESTFIELD — Chris Williams is far from a household name.

But the second-year defensive tackle out of Wagner spent training camp impressing some of the Indianapolis Colts' best players.

"Chris Williams, right now, he's playing with his hair on fire," All-Pro defensive tackle DeForest Buckner said last week. "He's taking all the coaching, all the work that he's put into it — a lot of work this offseason out here with (former Colts great) Rob Mathis — and I can see it coming to fruition in this training camp."

Williams, who spent last season on the practice squad as an undrafted rookie, has officially been credited with four tackles and one quarterback hurry through two preseason games.

Antwaun Woods and Taylor Stallworth have been sidelined with hamstring injuries at different points this month, and Andrew Brown cooled off after a hot start. That helped open the door to first-team reps for Williams in a deep group of interior defensive linemen behind Buckner and Grover Stewart.

And those opportunities have accelerated his learning curve in multiple ways.

"It's been great," Williams said. "You get the reps out there, so you get to learn from your mistakes out there. You're playing with the two best D-tackles out there in the league — honestly, I believe so. I get to learn from them, watch the film, see what they're doing, try to come in and get better every day — just 1% better every day."

Williams is one of several players on the roster bubble as Indianapolis prepares for its preseason finale Friday night at the Detroit Lions. By Tuesday, the Colts must cut the 80-man roster down to the 53-man regular-season limit.

The math quickly gets complicated by injuries and — increasingly — COVID infections. If a player goes down at one position, general manager Chris Ballard, head coach Frank Reich and their staffs might have to cut an additional player at another spot to balance the slate.

It's not as simple, for instance, as keeping four defensive tackles and four defensive ends. Players like Tyquan Lewis have versatility to play both spots and can make the math fuzzy, but unavailability really muddies the water. If a player is hurt for just a week or two is it worth putting him on injured reserve and keeping him sidelined for three weeks? If so, another spot on the roster opens up. If not, an extra player at his position needs to be kept as insurance.

It all can get very confusing very quickly even when it doesn't personally affect the participants. So it should come as no surprise Williams is blocking out all the roster machinations. He knows the Lions game is important to him, but there's no added stress as a result.

"Going into the game, you don't worry about nothing like that," he said. "That's the fun part. You put in all the grind out here. It's the hard grind, gritty part. When you go into the game, that's where you have fun. So my approach has been what's gonna happen's gonna happen. I give it all to God and just go out there and play, just trust myself. And all I go out there to do is do my job and go 100%."

If his teammates are any indication, that approach is working.

Williams will be in competition with Woods, Stallworth and Brown for no more than two slots. But even if he doesn't make the cut, he has certainly made an impression.

"Chris has improved on everything," Stewart said, "coming off the ball, his pass rushing and his run (stuffing), like he defeats a block and gets back there to the quarterback and making tackles in the backfield."

Count Williams among the many with high expectations for the Indianapolis defense this fall. He's gotten an up-close look at the process as the pieces have been coming together, and he very much likes what he sees on the field.

Obviously, it would be a dream come true for Williams to be part of the initial 53-man roster, and it would check off an important personal goal.

But it wouldn't be the end of his climb.

"It would be a big accomplishment," he said. "I would love it. That would be definitely something I set myself out to do in the offseason, and to achieve that, that would feel real good. And then I'll just tick back down. You can never get too high and never get too low. You just keep grinding, just keep getting better."

COVID UPDATES

All-Pro left guard Quenton Nelson's effort to recover from a foot injury before the season opener against the Seattle Seahawks on Sept. 12 hit another hurdle Thursday when the Colts announced he's been placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

That designation occurs when players either test positive for the novel coronavirus and its variants or are considered a high-risk close contact. Players who are fully vaccinated can return to the active roster after posting two negative tests 24 hours apart. Unvaccinated players must sit out a minimum of 10 days, depending on their symptoms and other variables.

Left tackle Eric Fisher, recovering from offseason surgery to repair a torn Achilles' tendon, also was moved from the physically unable to perform list to reserve/COVID-19 on Thursday.