Los Angeles Chargers brass are cautiously optimistic first-round draft pick Mike Williams can avoid back surgery, but he likely will begin the season on the physically unable to perform list once the team opens training camp Sunday.
"He's been responding well," Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said Thursday. "The path, right now, is rehab and strengthening. That's good news, obviously."
Williams was diagnosed with a lower-back disk herniation that kept him out of offseason work after he suffered the injury on the first day of rookie minicamp at Chargers Park in San Diego in May. However, the Clemson product recently received a second epidural shot and has responded positively, the story said.