NFL team cuts 51-year-old, didn’t know he’d been on roster for 29 years
The Philadelphia Eagles made one of the strangest roster moves you’ll ever see: They waived a 51-year-old who hadn’t played in the NFL in almost three decades.
According to the NFL transaction wire, the Eagles waived offensive tackle Bernard Williams from the “Reserve/Suspended by Commissioner-At Least One Year” list on Thursday. That would be Nov. 16, 2023. That’s important to mention because Williams is 51 years old and hasn’t played in the NFL since 1994.
The story of Williams is a strange one. He was a first-round pick out of Georgia in 1994, earning a spot on the NFL’s All-Rookie team that year. However, after testing positive for cannabis multiple times, Williams wound up in suspension purgatory. He was suspended for at least one year and reportedly never successfully filed for reinstatement to the NFL. Instead, he went to play in the XFL, Arena Football League and Canadian Football League. He last played a professional football game in 2006 with the Toronto Argonauts.
But since he was never reinstated or officially cut, Williams was still a player whose rights were owned by the Eagles. He wasn’t on the 53-man roster and wasn’t getting paid by the team. However, he was still technically a player under the umbrella of the Eagles organization.
According to NBC Sports Philadelphia, NFL officials contacted the Eagles and revealed that they’d spotted Williams’ name while looking through reserve lists on teams.
