Karlos Williams: "I'm disappointed in myself"

• Karlos Williams did not practice as the Bills began training camp Saturday.
• The Bills are back on the practice field at 10 a.m. Sunday, and again on Monday.

Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley was right on Friday when he remarked that no one is more disappointed with Karlos Williams than Karlos Williams himself.

“I’m very disappointed in myself,” Williams admitted Saturday, a day in which the Bills opened training camp at St. John Fisher College without their second-year running back who still isn’t physically ready to get in there and compete.

Williams had what could only be described as a tumultuous off-season, one that began happily enough with the birth of a child, but then started to go off the rails when he got way out of football shape, and then completely jumped the tracks when he was slapped with a four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s substance policy.

“I put myself, my teammates, and my family in a very bad situation,” Williams said as he met with the media for the first time since his suspension was announced. “I can learn from my mistakes this off-season, get ready to get back in shape and get ready to play football and move forward.”

When that can happen is anyone’s guess. About 30 minutes into the practice Williams left the field along with Sammy Watkins to go do individual conditioning drills with members of the Bills’ training staff. Watkins did so because he’s recovering from foot surgery and the Bills aren’t going to rush him back into full-scale practice just yet. The thinking is the same for Williams in that allowing him to practice now raises his chance for injury.

“We’re not going to put a player at risk if we don’t think that player is ready to take on that kind of challenge,” said coach Rex Ryan. “He might be able to get through that, but how’s he going to be after that?”

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Williams was contrite as he answered questions about his predicament. He knows he screwed up, and he is prepared to make amends. Of course that’s what everyone says, and now he has to follow through.

“Going through what I’ve gone through, they were definitely mistakes, and I believe people make mistakes,” said the 23-year-old from Florida State. “I’m not really a big person about talking about changing, it’s all about showing people, my family, my friends, the ownership, my coaches, my teammates.”

So, how did he get to this point?

“Being a young guy, a young kid making bad decisions, not thinking things through,” Williams said. “I think that happens to a lot of people coming into the NFL, they have good success, you go off the hinges a little bit. It happened to me, but it’s time to move forward, to progress. It happened, it’s in the past, you can’t change the past, all you can do is work and get ready to play football.”

In the meantime, players such as rookie Jonathan Williams, and journeymen James Wilder Jr., Mike Gillislee, and Boom Herron are sharing his reps behind starter LeSean McCoy. If he’s worried about losing his backup job, he isn’t saying.

“I can control me, and what I control now is being in shape,” he said. “When I get ready to get on that football field, when I get the ball, I want to do what I do best and put the ball in the end zone. I got the ball early last year, put the ball in the end zone a lot and that came from a lot of trust from my coaching staff, coach (Greg) Roman, coach (Anthony) Lynn putting me in the game. I took advantage of it and played well last year, so now it’s time to do the same thing and hopefully it will come back.”

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Practice observations

- EJ Manuel actually looked pretty good on day one of training camp. The fourth-year quarterback who is slated to be Tyrod Taylor’s backup again threw the ball well, though he did underthrow one deep pass that was intercepted. Unless something unforeseen happens, the Bills aren’t going to alter their quarterback depth chart, so Manuel will probably head into the season No. 2.

- Because Taylor is the undeniable starter, there is no longer a need to run the two-spot drills that Ryan used last year when Taylor, Manuel and Matt Cassel needed as many reps as possible to determine a winner. What happened last year is that with so many reps, it exposed more players to injury, and if you recall, the Bills were decimated during their time at Fisher, especially at the running back position. "You learn in this league as you go," Ryan said. "That's why I think, the longer you're in it, obviously, the better you should be."

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- Marquise Goodwin was certain he’d be on his way to Rio by now to start getting ready for the Olympics. Instead, he failed to qualify for the long jump so he’s at Fisher trying to resuscitate his sagging football career. Goodwin has been a non-factor the last two seasons as he has not been able to stay healthy. “I think he has to be smart and try to protect himself some,” said Ryan, who is intoxicated by Goodwin’s speed. “Get down, you know, do different things like that when you’re coming across the middle. Those are things that we have to be smart about and you have to take care of yourself too.”

- Cedric Reed's time at Fisher ended after one day. The defensive end was cut Saturday to make room for defensive tackle Casey Walker, whom the Bills signed late in the day. Walker is a 340-pounder who entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2013 and played briefly for Carolina. He spent part of 2015 with Dallas and has played eight career NFL games.

MAIORANA@Gannett.com

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