James Otis "Big Cat" Williams (born March 29, 1968) is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player. He played for the Chicago Bears

Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 throughout his 12-year NFL career. He was known as one of the top kick blockers in the league due to his height. Williams stood at 6 feet 7 inches.

Massive 6'7", 330-pound James Williams was signed as a free agent by Bill Tobin

Bill Tobin (American football)

Bill Tobin is a former professional American football player who played Running back for one season for the Houston Oilers. He would later become the general manager of the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts...

 after the 1991 draft. Williams played defensive tackle on a 0-11 team at Cheyney State, and was hungry for more success in the pros. Williams worked his way into the defensive line rotation his rookie season, substituting for Steve McMichael

Steve McMichael

-World Wrestling Federation :After the end of his NFL career, he appeared at ringside in the WWF for Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania XI on April 2, 1995 in Hartford, Connecticut. Taylor was wrestling Bam Bam Bigelow and there were several football players at ringside to keep wrestlers from...

 and William Perry when needed. The huge rookie blocked a field goal at Buffalo, picked up his first sack at Green Bay, and helped with the "push" on William Perry's game-saving FG block against the NY Giants. Despite his success on the defensive side of the ball in 1991, head coach Mike Ditka

Mike Ditka

Michael Keller Ditka, Jr. is a former American football NFL player, television commentator, and coach. Ditka coached the Chicago Bears for 11 years and New Orleans Saints for three years. Ditka and Tom Flores are the only two people to win Super Bowls as a player, an assistant coach, and a head...

 and offensive line coach Dick Stanfel

Dick Stanfel

Richard Anthony "Dick" Stanfel is a former American football offensive lineman in the National Football League for the Detroit Lions and the Washington Redskins. He played college football at the University of San Francisco and was drafted in the second round of the 1951 NFL Draft...

 had other ideas for the "Big Cat".

Williams played sparingly on defense in 1992 and was inactive for five straight games. The second-year tackle was having a tough time cracking the lineup with the emergence of 1991 second-rounder Chris Zorich

Chris Zorich

Christopher Robert Zorich is a former American football defensive tackle in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins.-Early life:...

, so Stanfel and Ditka decided to move him to offensive tackle midway through November. The two coaches salivated over the thought of the massive Williams at right tackle, eventually teaming with the equally-massive Louis Age

Louis Age

Louis Theodore Age, III was an American football offensive tackle for the Chicago Bears of the NFL. He was selected in the 11th round of the 1992 NFL Draft out of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette....

 on the left side. Soon after, Ditka and Stanfel were fired, but the new Dave Wannstedt

Dave Wannstedt

Dave Wannstedt is current Assistant Head Coach/Inside Linebackers Coach for the Buffalo Bills in the National Football League. He was most recently head coach of the University of Pittsburgh football team, a position he held for six seasons. Wannstedt is also the former head coach of the Miami...

 regime's offensive line coach Tony Wise saw the same talent in Williams that their predecessors had. Big Cat relieved Keith Van Horne

Keith Van Horne

Keith Van Horne is a retired American football tackle.-High school:Keith attended Fullerton High School, Fullerton, California.His Fullerton football varsity team mate was future NFL...

 against Tampa in September, then was inactive for the final 12 games of the 1993 campaign.
Starting in 1994, all the way through his final game with the Bears in 2002, Williams started an amazing 134 games at right tackle. Even more amazingly, Williams missed only limited action throughout those seasons, and didn't miss a single snap in 1995. In addition to his starting duties, Williams was the "main man" on the Bears' field goal defense unit, blocking or deflecting eight field goal attempts through 2001. He was voted as a Pro Bowl

Pro Bowl

In professional American football, the Pro Bowl is the all-star game of the National Football League . Since the merger with the rival American Football League in 1970, it has been officially called the AFC–NFC Pro Bowl, matching the top players in the American Football Conference against those...

 alternate after the 1998 season, and officially selected to his first all-star game following the 2001 season, during which the Bears finished 13-3 under head coach Dick Jauron

Dick Jauron

Richard Manuel Jauron is the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He was the head coach for the Buffalo Bills from 2006 until November 2009. Jauron has previously held head coaching positions with the Chicago Bears and, on an interim basis, with the...

.

Williams became one of the teams' most visible ambassadors throughout his career, and was a roadgrader at his position. Williams was the veteran recipient of the Bears organization's Brian Piccolo award following 2001. He even appeared in an E-tv Wild on Chicago episode prior to the 2001 season.

Williams was released by Chicago in a cost-cutting move on February 26, 2003.