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Seattle Seahawks Defensive Tackle Jesse Williams: "Finally Got The All Clear To Return To Football"

Seahawks defensive tackle Jesse Williams tweeted Thursday that he has been cleared to return to football after spending 2015 on the team's reserve/non-football injury list because of a cancer diagnosis last May.

Jesse Williams is one step closer to returning to football.

On Thursday afternoon, the Seahawks defensive tackle who was diagnosed with Papillary Type 2 cancer last May tweeted that he had received the "all clear" to resume play. 

"Finally Got the All clear to return to Football," he wrote. "Now just wait for my Opportunity."

Last year, Williams had a kidney removed shortly following his cancer diagnosis. He was cleared for light workouts in June and when training camp started in late July, Williams wasn't cleared for full contact but was given the go-ahead by the time Seattle's preseason opener rolled around, a game that saw him record two tackles against the Denver Broncos.

The snaps Williams saw in that exhibition matchup against Denver were his first since 2013, the year the Seahawks took Williams in the fifth round of the NFL Draft out of Alabama. His first two years in the pros ended before they began because of knee injuries suffered prior to the start of each regular season.

Despite his quick recovery from surgery and appearing in all four preseason games, Williams spent the 2015 regular season on Seattle's reserve/non-football injury list, but Seattle head coach Pete Carroll came away impressed with the way Williams battled.

"All things considered, it's a miraculous summer for him," Carroll said after Seattle's final preseason game. "To play football under these circumstances and the stress he's had to deal with, and the uncertainty and all of that, Jesse's had a terrific summer. He played good football for us. He demonstrated fantastic resiliency to bounce back from all of the things he's been through. Even in the last couple of weeks, to play so hard and so tough, I'm really, really proud of him. I think he did a great job. He's knocking on the door trying to make this club too, just like everyone else. He fought very gallantly to do that. Most people, I don't know that they ever respond like he did. Remarkable." 

After traveling with the Seahawks all season, team photographer Rod Mar selected his favorite and most memorable photos from the 2015 season Eye on the Hawks photo essays. 

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