Antwione Williams was arrested on suspicion of DWI in May

Since the Mike Zimmer era began, off-field shenanigans for the Minnesota Vikings have dropped significantly. Compared to previous regimes, there have been relatively few incidents of members of the purple getting into legal hot water during their downtime. One of the team’s younger players, however, did run into some issues a couple of months ago that we are just learning about today.

Antwione Williams, the linebacker that got the start for the team in Denver when Anthony Barr was held out of the game, was arrested back in May and cited for suspicion of driving while impaired. He was also charged with careless driving when he was clocked going 81 miles per hour in an area where the speed limit was 55. When he was pulled over, his blood alcohol level was .09, over the Minnesota limit of .08.

Williams entered a guilty plea to the careless driving charge, and the remaining charges were dropped. He was sentenced to 30 days in the Hennepin County Workhouse, but 29 days of that sentence were set aside and he was credited with one day of time served.

Williams was initially a fifth-round draft choice of the Detroit Lions in the 2016 NFL Draft out of Georgia Southern. He spent just one season with the Lions before being waived as part of the team’s final cuts in 2017. After that, he signed with the Vikings’ practice squad, where he spent the 2017 season.

The Vikings appear to think pretty highly of Williams in their race to sort out their linebacker depth chart. Yes, it was only for one preseason game, but the fact that he did start the Vikings’ preseason opener in Denver shows that the team must think he has some pretty decent potential. We’ll have to see how this affects the team’s thought process on him, or if it affects it at all, throughout the rest of this preseason and into the team’s final cutdown.