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Football is an inherently violent sport, and while most guys don’t actually try to inflict harm upon their opponents, the NFL has historically attracted plenty of players who seemingly take pleasure in hurting other people.
That includes Bill Romanowski, the linebacker who spent 16 years in the league and devoted a solid chunk of his time there to cementing himself as one of the dirtiest players in its history.
The 6’4, 245-pound Boston College product repeatedly landed in hot water thanks to his inability to control his temper on the field (which may or may not have had something to do with the BALCO scandal that led to him admitting he’d used steroids as a player), and he was fined tens of thousands of dollars for his various misdeed on the gridiron.
While the bulk of those incidents stemmed from him metaphorically (or, in the case of Kerry Collins, literally) butting heads with opposing players, there was one notable incident involving one of his own teammates—a man who never played a snap in the NFL thanks to what transpired at training camp in 2003.
The time Bill Romanowski ended Marcus Williams’ career in a fight at training camp
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Anyone who keeps tabs on the NFL knows it’s not exactly rare to see players trade blows at training camp, as the stakes can be fairly high and plenty of guys won’t think twice about throwing hands if they feel someone has crossed the line and made them look back in the process.
With that said, the vast majority of those scuffles tend to fizzle out pretty quickly and rarely lead to any long-term ramifications aside from the bad blood that may continue to boil in their wake.
However, that was not the case when the Oakland Raiders gathered for practice on August 24, 2003.
Marcus Williams wasn’t exactly a highly-touted prospect after finishing his career at Washington State, and while the undrafted tight end signed with the Colts in 2001, he failed to make the final roster.
He earned a spot on Oakland’s practice squad toward the end of that season before taking his talents overseas to get some reps with the team’s NFL Europe affiliate and officially made his NFL debut in 2002 after settling into his role as a backup TE and special teams player.
Williams was undoubtedly hoping to keep the momentum going when he arrived at training camp in 2003, where he found himself tasked with blocking Romanowski during the aforementioned practice.
However, things took a turn after his teammate felt he was held during a play and responded by ripping off Williams’ helmet with one hand and punching him in the face with the other, a blow that knocked him unconscious, chipped a tooth, and fractured the socket of his left eye.
That incident led to Williams being placed on injured reserve, and after examining his options, he decided to file a civil suit against his assailant in the hopes of securing $3.8 million in damages.
In the end, a jury ruled against Romanowski but ultimately awarded Williams just $340,000 ($300,000 for the lost salary and another $40,000 for medical expenses).
While Williams thought about appealing the verdict, Romanski offered him another $75,000 to officially bring the legal battle to an end, and while the man he punched attempted to find another home in the NFL, he would never appear in another game.