Chiefs pick up Damien Williams option for 2020 season

Kansas City Chiefs running back Damien Williams will return to the team in 2020 with news the club will pick up his option.

After another stellar postseason run, the Kansas City Chiefs are bringing back running back Damien Williams for another season. The franchise had until the new league year to make a decision on a team option in his contract, and Ian Rapoport has the word that the Chiefs will welcome him back.

Williams is slated to count $2.83 million against the salary cap this season in the last and most expensive year of his contract with the Chiefs.

The Chiefs initially brought in Williams two years ago as a scatback option in free agency after four middling years with the Miami Dolphins. Williams became a late-season surprise in K.C. who dominated when given the chance after the team was forced to release former starter Kareem Hunt.

From there, Williams entered the 2019 season as a chance to be the bell cow but the Chiefs signed LeSean McCoy just before the season began and Williams struggled to move the chains at all for the first half of the year. (He averaged 2.1 yards/carry through the first 8 games.) Down the stretch, however, Williams once again came alive (likely a lingering injury?) and put up nearly 100 yards from scrimmage/game for the last five games of the season.

In the Super Bowl, Williams put up a performance that warranted MVP consideration (an honor that eventually went to Patrick Mahomes) after carrying the ball 17 times for 104 yards and catching another 4 catches for 29 receiving yards.

Williams will join with Darrel Williams, who will return from a season-ending injury, and second-year back Darwin Thompson to form an experienced young core for the offense. LeSean McCoy is not expected to return and will find a new home in free agency.