Kasen Williams happy to be on Seahawks’ practice squad, but hardly satisfied

Kasen Williams pretty much knew what was going to happen —the Seattle Seahawks were going to release him in the roster cutdown from 75 to 53 and then re-sign him to their practice squad.

The Seahawks had told him as much when they informed him that he would be released.

“They let me know ahead of time if all plans go accordingly this is what we are going to do,’’ Williams said.

Still, that didn’t make the 24 hours or so from Saturday afternoon, when he was officially released, to Sunday afternoon, when he was officially re-signed, all that much easier.

Asked if it was a nervous time, the former UW receiver laughed and said “um, yeah. But I tried not to think about it because everything is out of my control. I was just trying to get my mind off of football and just relax a little bit. But it’s hard in that scenario.’’

Complicating things is that while Williams was pretty certain he’d get a practice squad offer from the Seahawks, what he didn’t know is whether any other team might come calling.

Once released by Seattle on Saturday he became officially a free agent for 24 hours. Another team could have called to sign him to its 53-man roster, or to its practice squad, maybe with a better offer than he was expecting from Seattle.

Williams, though, says “I didn’t have anything from anybody. …. No one else was thinking of me.’’

That might seem surprising given that Williams stood as one of the faster risers of Seattle’s training camp, making a key fourth-down catch to lead the late win at San Diego and catching a 15-yard touchdown on a fade route to secure the preseason finale victory over Oakland. He had four catches for 58 yards overall in the preseason.

But it also speaks to the competition for roster spots of any kind — roughly 704 players were released over the weekend with no more than 320 spots available on practice squads.

Ultimately, the former Skyline High star was just happy to get the call from Seattle.

Williams said while he didn’t want to obsess over it, he inevitably found himself on social media checking out what was going on around the league, especially with former Husky teammates.

One, Kevin Smith, also got a call from the Seahawks to join the practice squad with the two former Huskies now working as the two receivers on the 10-man team.

His first practice with the practice squad Monday wasn’t any different from those during camp, Williams said, other than the fact that the smaller roster means he almost always now finds himself going against one of the team’s regular corners, such as Richard Sherman or Cary Williams.

“I’m going to get a lot better on the practice squad because I’m going to be going against the best cornerbacks in the game,’’ Williams said. “So my releases are going to get way better, my routes are going to get way better. I’m excited for it.’’

While the ultimate goal was to reach the team’s 53-man roster, the practice squad itself signifies something of an achievement for Williams given the brutal foot/leg injury he suffered during his junior year at Washington, a key factor in his going undrafted last May.

Williams, though, said there was no celebration when the call came.

“If I was to celebrate now it would be like I’m happy to be here,’’ he said. “I am happy to be here but this isn’t where I want to be. I’ve got better things to accomplish.’’