51-year-old Eagles offensive tackle released from roster in the strangest transaction of the NFL season

If you do not remember the name Bernard Williams, you are to be forgiven. He played just one season for the Philadelphia Eagles 29 years ago before his career was derailed by a marijuana suspension. Despite the fact that he has not played since the 1994 season, he was still technically a member of the Eagles roster. He was finally released this past week.

For Williams’s part, he had no idea any of this was happening.

Here’s the background on what led to the strangest transaction of the 2023 NFL season.

The Eagles selected Williams with the No. 14 overall pick in 1994. He seemed to be on track to locking down their starting left tackle position for years following a strong rookie season. However, a positive marijuana test before the 1995 season resulted in him being suspended for the entire season. He failed a second test during the suspension and was never officially reinstated by the league.

He continued his pro football career in various other leagues — the CFL, XFL, Arena League — but never again made it back to the NFL. The Eagles, however, still maintained his rights through all of this. Technically, this left him as an official member of the roster until he was officially released this past week.

It was basically just one giant glitch in the NFL’s system. 

So what tipped everybody off?

Williams told Andrew DiCecco of Insidethebirds.com that he thinks the Eagles finally took notice when he recently applied for some league benefits. He also had no idea of his roster status or the fact he was officially released. 

“I was actually at work when a kid I coached in high school, Ventell Boulware — a scout for the Packers — called asked when was the last time I did anything with the NFL. I told him I had just applied for some benefits recently, and he said, ‘Well your name just came across the [transaction] wire.’ I’m like, ‘For what?’ And he was like, ‘The Eagles released you.’ I had some kind of idea, but they never released me. And I always wondered what happened with that. “When I went to Canada, the Eagles kept my rights through all of that. They never released my rights. But I had no idea that I was still on the roster 29 years later.”

Williams started all 16 games of his rookie season and played extremely well. He just never really had a chance to show what type of player he could have been in the NFL because of the NFL’s outdated marijuana rules.