Jesse Williams rejoins Seahawks after treatment for kidney cancer

RENTON, Wash. — Seahawks defensive tackle Jesse Williams will leave to others the hyperbole regarding his return to the field Thursday roughly 10 weeks after surgery to remove a kidney.

It’s normalcy he’s seeking following the beginning to his NFL career, which has veered from one crisis to the next.

The most extreme came last spring when Williams, as he explained to reporters Thursday after being cleared to practice with the Seahawks, began urinating blood regularly. That led to a diagnosis of Papillary Type 2 cancer and surgery May 28.

“I try not deviate, too positive or too negative,’’ Williams said.

That wasn’t easy to do, though, during the moments in the hospital following surgery.

“I think it felt really real when they took the catheter (out),’’ he said. “That was probably the realest part. It definitely was a little bit of a shock, coming out and having cuts all over me and stuff like that.’’

But a day later, Williams said, he was “moving around pretty good’’ and from that point thought only of the future and football.

And so while others marveled Thursday at Williams’ quick return to the field, to him this simply was what he had expected. Not that he didn’t appreciate it just a little bit more when he put on a helmet and shoulder pads and took part in some individual drills.

“Today was like the day I pretty much kept in my mind the whole time after being in the hospital, first day back,’’ he said. “That’s what was driving me. So yeah, it was a big deal to get out there today.”

The cancer diagnosis was a shock to Williams for a number of reasons, including the fact that when it came he rarely had felt better since being picked by the Seahawks in the fifth round of the 2013 NFL draft.

Williams, 24, missed his first two seasons after knee surgery in training camp. But when the call came that he had cancer – he remembers being with his family – the knees felt good and he was preparing to take part fully in offseason workouts.

Williams said he took his usual approach to the cancer diagnosis, relying on the philosophy of his college coach, Alabama’s Nick Saban. Saban tells his players to celebrate a win or mourn a loss for 24 hours and get back to work.

“I pretty much did that with everything I’ve had so far,’’ Williams said. “Cancer, knee injury, anything that comes up I’ve got 24 hours, I’ll deal with it and I’ll come back and I go to work.’’

Interestingly, he said the kidney surgery might help his knees.

“The kidney was sort of messing up my hormones a little bit, so it was keeping the swelling around a lot, especially in my body,’’ he said. “Now I’ve been recovering a lot quicker, my knees feel good, and obviously the rest and the anti-inflammatories I’m on I’m sure help them a little bit, too.”

He said he doesn’t see the big deal in playing with one kidney, saying he hasn’t researched if anyone else has done it, though he will wear an extra pad to protect that area.

“You know I had a pretty rough start already,’’ he said, a reference to the knee surgeries as well as the cancer diagnosis. “Hopefully getting rid of the bad kidney got rid of a bit of the bad luck I had as well.’’

The next big test for Williams will come in a few days or so when he should be mixed into team drills and live football. Depending on how quickly he can progress, Williams could become a factor at defensive tackle, where the team needs some depth.

“Man, I’ll play tomorrow if they let me,’’ Williams said. “ … As soon as they give me the OK to go (fully), I don’t know if you’ll see any more people out there trying to hit someone as hard as me. As soon as they let me go, I’m hitting the ground running.”