Eagles notebook: Cameron Williams excited for chance after year on IR

Eagles notebook: Cameron Williams excited for chance after year on IR originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Life on Injured Reserve can get a little lonely. Cameron Williams knows all about it.

He spent most of his rookie season on IR.

“Oh for sure. I was bored,” Williams said this week. “I told the coaches I was bored on IR.”

But the sixth-round pick from Texas will finally get to play football again on Sunday. The Eagles activated Williams to their 53-man roster on Thursday, the final day of his 21-day practice window, and Williams will make his NFL debut in Week 18 against the Commanders.

Williams actually made the Eagles’ initial 53-man roster out of training camp but was inactive in Week 1 and then landed on IR with a shoulder injury on Sept. 13. He had been on IR ever since, until Thursday. And now he’ll get a chance to make his NFL debut.

“It’s amazing,” Williams said. “I’m just grateful to have the opportunity to play honestly.”

Over the last 16 weeks, the 22-year-old Williams was just focused on maintaining his weight while also getting stronger. He also used that time to work on getting faster and learning the playbook. A few weeks ago, the Eagles activated his practice window and he was back on the field during the week.

The hardest part for last few months?

“Just not playing, not being able to hit nobody for real,” Williams said.

The Eagles earlier in the season opened the practice windows of rookie O-linemen Myles Hinton and Willie Lampkin, but let them close, which put those guys on IR for the rest of 2025. The timing seems to have worked out better for Williams. The Eagles are resting their key starters in Week 18 and need some offensive line help, so Williams will actually get to play.

As excited as Williams is about making his NFL debut, he might draw a tough assignment on Sunday against 36-year-old future Hall of Famer Von Miller, who enters Week 18 tied for 10th all-time in sacks with 137.5.

Williams and Miller both grew up in Dallas County, Texas, and went to rival high schools many years apart. Miller went to DeSoto High School and Williams went to rival Duncanville. The two have never met but they will on Sunday.

“A future Hall of Famer,” Williams said. “It’s going to be a blessing to block him. I can’t wait.”

Playing his role

For the second straight season, Jahan Dotson has been one of the least productive receivers in the NFL. But it’s not for lack of talent or effort. He’s just not one of the top options on an offense that has been inconsistent all season.

And since coming to the Eagles in 2024, Dotson has handled that minimal role with grace.

“I think that is always a challenge,” head coach Nick Sirianni said this week. “But I can’t tell you how many times I’ll put on the tape or show the tape in here from a game or a practice, and show him busting his butt trying to get a block or running off somebody and taking advantage of the opportunities when the ball does come to him. I think he handles it great. 

“Understand that they’re receivers [and] want to catch the football, but he does the little things for his teammates to help the team, and you always admire that.”

Dotson this season has played 539 snaps but has just 15 catches for 222 yards and a touchdown. There are 68 receivers in the NFL this season who have played 500+ snaps and Dotson is dead last in receptions. This comes a year after Dotson finished 80th out of 80 in receptions among receivers with 500+ snaps in 2024.

But if you think back to Week 18 last year, Dotson had a big day with Tanner McKee throwing him the football. In that game, Dotson had 7 catches for 94 yards. And then he ended up having a huge catch in Super Bowl LIX.

That play still really stands out to Sirianni.

“I think back to the Super Bowl last year,” Sirianni said. “And he’s always had a knack of making the plays that do come to him, and think back to the Super Bowl last year and he has the one that gets us down to the 1-yard line. He has an opportunity to reach the ball and put the ball at risk and score a touchdown in the Super Bowl or be a selfless teammate. And he was a selfless teammate. That’s who he is and that’s why guys respect him and like him, and that’s why I respect him and like him. Just a really good teammate.”

Kind words about Sirianni

Remember at the beginning of last season when it seemed like Jalen Hurts just couldn’t force himself to say anything nice about Nick Sirianni? Those two have come a long way since then.

And Hurts was very complimentary this week when asked what he appreciates most about Sirianni.

“His work ethic,” Hurts said. “His determination, his passion for the game and how effective he is in the way he does what he does.”

Hurts was also asked how he has seen Sirianni evolve in their five seasons together. He had a good answer for that too.

“I think he’s evolved from having a different position and having a different role in how that’s evolved,” Hurts said. “I think that’s evolved in itself. So to go from, ‘I’m calling plays, I’m in this position where I’m doing this,’ to that evolving over time and kind of coming back into a position where he’s heavily involved in what we do. I think to be able to find success and sustained success throughout all of that is very admirable, very impressive and I got a great deal of respect for him and how diligent he is, how hard he works, how hard he cares. I think what he’s been able to accomplish speaks for itself as a head coach.”

It seems like there’s a commonality between Hurts and Sirianni in this aspect. Hurts has talked plenty before about being whatever version of himself he needs to be for a particular team. So it makes sense that he appreciates those same qualities in his head coach.

A lot more plays

The NFL tweaked its kickoff rules again this season to encourage more kick returns and it has worked. The Eagles this season have returned 57 kickoffs in 16 games after returning just 33 in 17 games last season.

The rule change hasn’t just created more plays for returners but for all 11 on both the kick return and kickoff units.

“It’s a lot more plays obviously for the special team production,” special teams coordinator Michael Clay said. “We’ve got guys close up there towards the 20-tackle mark, Kylen Granson and Jeremiah Trotter. I think it keeps the ball in play a little bit more. It changes field position. We’d like to be improved still. We have games to improve from kickoff return, but I think our kickoff coverage has really helped out the defense. 

“We went against Ray Davis, probably one of the better kickoff return guys in Buffalo and we were able to have their starting field position off kickoff returns at the 24, which is fantastic. So just everybody buying in knowing that the field position could help out from a kickoff coverage and a kickoff return standpoint.”

The Eagles this season are 30th in the NFL in kick return average at just 23.8 yards per attempt, but their best returner has been Will Shipley, who is averaging 26.7 yards per return.

Both Trotter and Granson have 18 special teams tackles this season.

The early bird

It has become part of my Wednesday ritual. After Nick Sirianni’s press conference wraps up in the morning, I turn to the back of the auditorium to make sure Jeremiah Trotter Jr. is there.

And he always is.

The 23-year-old linebacker shows up early to that special teams meeting every single week and waits patiently in the back of the auditorium at the NovaCare Complex until the press conference is over.

“We got special teams after you guys do the interviews so I just eat lunch in there so I’m already in there,” Trotter said this week. “I try to be early for pretty much everything.”

Trotter said he tries to be early for all of his meetings in the NFL. He said he might not be doing anything back there other than listening to his headphones or looking at his phone but he likes to make sure he’s there.

“That’s how my dad raised us, raised me and my brother,” Trotter said. “You’d rather be early than late.”

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