For the first time this season, Trent Williams spoke with the media regarding his holdout from the Washington Redskins and offered scary details of exactly why he was not playing and how he and the organization got to the point where, as he put it today, “there is no trust” between the two sides.
https://twitter.com/kareemcopeland/status/1189989582747635712
Williams revealed he had DSFP, a rare tissue cancer in his head, that had been initially diagnosed by the Redskins medical staff as minor six years ago. As Williams told reporters (as relayed by JP Finlay of NBC Sports Washington), the medical staff told him it was minor and he put his trust in them, and while it grew — because there was no pain — he believed them when they said it wasn’t a severe issue.
This summer he went to an outside doctor to have it removed, believing it was a cyst, only to learn it was actually cancer.
“I went to go get the cyst extracted, and when they did it, they found out it wasn’t a cyst,” he said. “[They] told me it was DSFP. That’s what the cancer is called. It’s a very rare soft tissue cancer. The diagnosis that they gave me in the beginning, they kind of underestimated it,” Williams said.
It is a damning accusation of misdiagnosis by the Washington medical staff, and what comes next will be fascinating to watch. He also said he wasn’t visited in the hospital by anyone from the team, and that there was effectively nothing that could be done now to repair the relationship between he and the franchise.
Asked if more guaranteed money could fix his relationship with the Redskins, Trent Williams said he’s not “asking them for a dime.”
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) October 31, 2019
Williams reported to the team and failed his physical on Wednesday due to discomfort putting on his helmet, which we now know is a result of the successful surgery done to remove Williams’ DSFP. Washington says they are working to figure out a way to fix the helmet issue, but it still seems highly unlikely that he plays a down for them this season given the fracture in their relationship.
The good news is that it sounds as though Williams has been given a clean bill of health following the procedure to remove the cancer, but it shows just how deep and serious the issues between he and the organization run.
