there is one thing many people are not taking into account. john fox hates deangelo williams because he does not look to hit people first, and instead jukes away fom the defender. williams is a strong RB and i have seen him display his power and i am sure fox has noticed that as well. my reasoning when williams first came in he was getting over some injury issues, fine i do not mind he was a rookie there was some reason to not let him run around too much. what i did have a problem with was that fox was completely stubborn in not giving williams the ball more while foster was hurt.
in 06 williams played in 13 games, started 2, had a 121 touches, for 501 yards, coming to a 4.1 YPC. foster that year started/played in 14 games, had 227 touches, for 897 yards, coming to a 4.0 YPC.
recap of rookie year: while playing in 1 less game, williams had 100 less carries, coming to about 400 yards less. granted not a big difference but with a kid who was producing about as much as your vet i would think you would want to save his legs and use the kid a bit more, but rookie year so i give fox a bit of a slide.
in 07: williams played in 16 games, started 0, had 144 carries, gained 717 yards, with a 5.0 YPC. foster in the meantime started all the games, had 247 carries, gained 876 yards, for a 3.5 YPC.
recap of 2nd year: while single game performances and overall team execution does determine play call and personel decision. when your starter can only out produce your backup by about 100 yards with more than 100 carries something is wrong. fox never did anything about it except draft another rookie to be a pounder to take the place of foster. again understandable trying to follow suit of RBBCs in the league, but also a indictment of his faith in williams.
now fox has his big back who while hurt still performed admirably especially late in season, and posted big stats. people wonder why williams stock is low this is a big reason. fox likes backs who can power through defenses. he has never given the ball to williams for one reason or another unless he has had to. last year williams was too productive and he had no other options but too had him the ball and watch the production. now fox is going to get his big RB back, presumably healthy, and williams will see less carries. while williams does have very good recieving skills and trumped foster during his time sharing a back field i doubt it will make much of a difference. their plays are rarely designed for that and williams is thrown to on emergency basis, even still he performs very well.
people are right that stewart will take carries from williams and that williams will still maintain some prominence. i think that williams will be the set up man and stewart will get the nuggety center of tired defenses. stewart production 250 carries, 1000 yards, with about 10-12 TDs, and williams getting 160 carries 1000 yards give or take 100 yards, with about 8-10 TDs. williams could make up the difference with receptions but he will not get the ball within the 30 yard line as long as stewart is healthy i can almost guarantee that. people are windering how williams and stewart will coexist well this is about it stewart gets the quality carries, and williams has to make due form no mans land and the emergency throws.