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Williams has been out since early in training camp with a neck problem, which is never a good injury to have if you're a football player. After plenty of rehab and rest, the man signed to be a starter opposite Darren Sharper hit the field on Thursday in a big step toward suiting up on a Sunday for his new team.
``Putting on the helmet for the first time, it felt heavier than I'm used to,'' Williams said with a smile. ``It's been a while since I've had it on. But apart from that, I felt good.''
Williams signed a six-year deal with $13 million guaranteed in the offseason, but rookie Tyrelle Johnson has taken all the snaps next to Sharper on the back end of the defense.
Vikings coaches and athletic trainers have been cautious with Williams' neck injury, making sure that it is fully healed before putting him back out there to take, and dish out, hits.
``It's been difficult to watch and not be able to participate,'' Williams said. ``But injuries are part of the game and I'm happy to be back playing and practicing again and trying to get into the swing of things.''
Coach Brad Childress said he was encouraged by seeing Williams out at practice for the first time since the team was in Mankato for training camp, but wasn't ready to put a timetable on his first game in purple.
``He took part in all the individual drills and took some of the reps in the team periods, just trying to get his sea legs back,'' Childress said.
It will take some time for Williams to get into game shape, but he said he feels comfortable with the defensive schematics because he has stayed present in the meeting rooms and game planning while rehabbing his injury.
``In terms of the mental aspect of the game, I don't think I've missed a beat at all because I was there every day in the meetings,'' he said.
JOHNSON'S CHANCE: With Williams out for so long, rookie safety Tyrell Johnson has had a bigger opportunity to play sooner than he ever would have imagined after being drafted in the second round out of Arkansas State.
There have been a few bumps along the road, but Johnson has made quite an impression to this point.
``He's really surpassed what we thought we'd get out of him in these first three games,'' defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier said. ``He really just continues to improve. His best football is obviously ahead of him but he's getting some experience we didn't expect he'd be getting this early which really does well for the future.
``He's just getting better and better in his run fits as well as coverage every week.''
Johnson started the first game of his career at Lambeau Field against the Packers on Monday night and is fourth on the team with 11 solo tackles and 14 total stops.
``It's been a blessing to go out there and actually start as a rookie,'' Johnson said. ``Playing at Lambeau Field, it's very special. I'll look back on it later on in life and it's really going to hit me then.''
It still remains to be seen how things will work out when Williams returns to the lineup, but Johnson said he would have no problem ceding his spot to the veteran if that's what the coaches determine is best.
``He is the starter,'' Johnson said of Williams. ``I don't know how they are going to handle the situation. I'm just handling what I can handle at this moment. Going out there and taking it a day at a time and doing the best I can do with it.''
OTHER BUMPS AND BRUISES: Running back Adrian Peterson said his sore hamstring ``feels fine'' and he was limited in practice again on Thursday but expects to play against the Titans on Sunday.
Receiver Sidney Rice (knee), defensive end Ray Edwards (shoulder), linebacker Vinny Ciurciu (knee) and running back Chester Taylor (foot) also were listed on the injury report and limited in practice.
Special teams coordinator Paul Ferraro said losing Ciurciu, which appeared to be the case when he was initially injured on Sunday, would have been a big blow to the special teams. But the injury was diagnosed as far less severe and he is hoping to play this week.
``First, losing Heath (Farwell), then if we had lost Vinny that would have been critical,'' Ferraro said. ``So it's great, most importantly for him, that he is going be OK.''
HIGH PRAISE: Frazier played on that Monsters of the Midway defense in the mid-1980s that led the Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl title, so he knows a thing or two about great linebackers.
That's why eyebrows raised when he compared E.J. Henderson to Bears legend Mike Singletary, considered one of the best to ever play the position.
``I was telling my wife the other day, he reminds me a little bit of Singletary in some of the things that he does. The impact plays,'' Frazier said. ``He does things that just get everybody else pumped up by the way he plays. He's maybe not as verbal as Mike was, but the play-making ability and his leadership by example is just tremendous.''
AP Sportswriter Dave Campbell contributed to this notebook.
