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Chargers optimistic rookie WR Mike Williams will avoid surgery

Mike Williams Chargers

The Los Angeles Chargers were dealt a bad hand leading up to training camp with news that rookie first-round pick Mike Williams might have to undergo surgery due to a herniated disc in his lower back.

Initial reports (since contested by Williams himself) indicated that the receiver would have go undergo season-ending back surgery (more on that here).

While surgery itself could still potentially be in the cards, Los Angeles is optimistic that Williams will be able to avoid said procedure.

“He’s been responding well,” Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said Thursday, via ESPN. “The path, right now, is rehab and strengthening. That’s good news, obviously.”

Yeah, that’s definitely good news. The last thing the Chargers needed was another long-term injury to one of their wide receivers. Remember, No. 1 pass catcher Keenan Allen has played in a total of nine games over the past two seasons. Big-name free agent signing Travis Benjamin also missed two games to injury last year.

Williams suffered the injury on the first day of rookie minicamp mere days after the Chargers selected him No. 7 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft. He ultimately missed the entire off-season program.

But things could definitely be looking up from here.

“He’ll see our doctors this weekend and will get more of a timetable of where he is,” Telesco said. “I think he’s more trending towards not working early in camp, which is not a surprise. But we’ll kind of take it from there.”

Los Angeles opens up its first camp in its new city on Sunday, at which point Williams is expected to be placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. Though, the team would have the ability to activate him at any point between then and the start of the regular season.

Williams, 22, is coming off a 2016 season with the Clemson Tigers that saw him put up 98 receptions, 1,361 yards and 11 touchdowns. Los Angeles will need him at full health if it expects to rebound from a disappointing last-place finish in the AFC West in 2016.

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