GREEN BAY, Wis. - Jamaal Williams isn't happy about how his ankle was injured, and the Green Bay Packers running back has a plan for the next time a would-be tackler grabs and twists it.
"If they're twisting ankles, I'm for sure kicking," Williams said Monday. "I'm kicking from now on. If the ref asks why I'm kicking, I'll be like, 'Hey, they twisted the ankle.'
"I'm just going to do what I've got to do to survive honestly. I'm not trying to get hurt and not be able to play anymore because somebody wants to be aggressive and do dirty things like that. So why I can I not protect myself from those type of injuries?"
Williams appeared to sustain the ankle injury against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Thursday's preseason game when linebacker Vince Williams tackled the second-year running back around the lower part of his right leg. Jammal Williams stayed in the game for one more play before he hobbled off.
"I'd rather he just let go of my ankle," Jamaal Williams said. "Obviously, I've got to do a better job of getting him off my legs, so I guess I'm going to start kicking now under the piles." Williams, the leading candidate to start at running back, did not practice on Monday during the Packers' first open workout since the game. His status for Thursday's game at Oakland - and the remainder of the preseason is in question - but he said he did not expect it to impact his availability for the Sept. 9 season opener against the Bears.
"It wasn't that bad but at the moment, it swelled up," he said. "I just need to get off it. The next day the swelling went down and it just went from that to me just grinding it out, getting everything back together. It's really just the swelling and the fluid build-up there. I'm all good, man. It's just a football lesson you've got to learn from and just try not to get injured like that again."
The Packers remain thin at running back because of a hamstring injury to Aaron Jones, who is expected to be part of the running back by committee along with Williams and Ty Montgomery.
Jones did not play in the first two preseason games but returned to practice on Monday and took 11-on-11 reps for the first time since Day 2 of training camp. Jones is ineligible for the first two games of the regular season because of an NFL suspension for violating the substance-abuse policy.
Devante Mays, a seventh-round pick last season, has yet to play in a preseason game because of a hamstring injury. Another running back, Akeem Judd, who was signed on Aug. 6, unexpectedly retired over the weekend after he carried five times against the Steelers.
The Packers signed a pair of running backs - Bronson Hill (who has been with seven different teams since 2015) and LeShun Daniels (who finished last season on the Redskins' injured reserve list).
"I think the biggest thing for both those guys is just to get up to speed because we want them to play in the game in Oakland," coach Mike McCarthy said. "I don't know at exactly what level."