The Los Angeles Rams announced they have placed cornerback Darious Williams on the Reserve/Retired list, signaling he has retired from the NFL.
Williams was expected to be a cap casualty of the Rams’ this offseason so instead of testing free agency, Williams has decided to hang it up after eight seasons in the NFL. Williams retiring will save the Rams around $7.5 million against the salary cap.
After Williams made his decision, the Rams took to social media to congratulate him on a great career and wish him luck in retirement:
Forever a Super Bowl LVI champ! · Congrats on a great career, Darious! 💙 pic.twitter.com/eOXHt2jSGg
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) March 7, 2026
Williams’ story is a great one as he originally played Division III football before moving on to UAB. He stayed at UAB when they briefly dropped their football program and eventually entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent. After getting waived by the Baltimore Ravens, Williams was claimed by the Rams and eventually won a starting cornerback job, winning a Super Bowl with the team.
The defensive back parlayed that successful into a nice contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where he had two strong seasons before returning to the Rams. While he saw his playing time decrease in 2025, Williams still milked everything he could out of his career.
In 104 career games, the 32-year-old had 306 total tackles, 12 interceptions, 77 passes defensed and two forced fumbles. In 67 games with the Rams, he had eight of his 12 career interceptions, 200 of his 306 total tackles, both of his two career fumble recoveries and 42 of his 77 career passes defensed.
From 2020-2025, Williams had the second-most pass breakups (58) and passes defended (73) in the NFL and ranked seventh in completions against as the primary defender (189).
Improving the secondary is a huge area of focus for the Rams this offseason, and that is now even more so the case with Williams choosing to retire. L.A. has already begun addressing those needs, however, as they completed a blockbuster trade for cornerback Trent McDuffie while also re-signing safety Kam Curl.
Williams isn’t the only Rams player to retire this offseason as right tackle Rob Havenstein also did as well.
Puka Nacua and Quentin Lake excited to reunite with Trent McDuffie on Rams
Trent McDuffie has familiarity with some players on the Rams roster as he briefly played with Quentin Lake in high school at Mater Dei and Puka Nacua in college at Washington. After the trade went down, both of the Rams stars took to social media to express their excitement to reunite with McDuffie.