Bears’ Williams draws comparisons to Bulls’ Boozer

Expectations for Bears wide receiver Roy Williams are varied.

Mine is that the doorbell rings at his home. He trips over a bag going to answer it, breaks a hand and misses the start of the regular season.

For a while I couldn’t think of whom Williams reminded me of. Then Carlos Boozer came to mind.

Williams plays football, Boozer basketball. Williams is a tall wide receiver, Boozer a wide power forward. Williams settled for a one-year contract from the Bears, Boozer scored a multiyear deal from the Bulls.

The similarity is that each came to Chicago to fill a persistent hole on his new team.

Oh, yeah, and their style, too. That’s what first made me see Boozer when I looked in the mirror at Williams.

Boozer and Williams are engaging, well spoken, mildly amusing athletes who can seduce you by smiling straight into your eyes or the camera.

I haven’t been around Williams as much as I have Boozer, so I don’t know whether he also likes to issue that playful wink that Boozer employs so effectively.

It could be that Williams’ wink goes without saying, so to speak, but we’ll wait to see.

Anyway, I saw Williams up close for the first time Tuesday in the Bears’ locker room at Halas Hall and, let me tell you, this is one stylish dude.

Some athletes just flat-out know how to strut, maybe even sashay, with a little hint of a swagger.

Most of the great ones do. The way they carry themselves expounds to the world that they are great.

Man, I looked at Roy Williams walk across that room a couple of times — featuring a floppy Bears hat and lean, defined, skill-position muscles — and he looked the part of the special athlete.

Williams had that same presence that Boozer has walking through the Bulls’ locker room, hotel lobbies and international airports.

Except that Williams hasn’t been that special a wide receiver during most of his previous NFL stops in Detroit and Dallas.

Not anymore than Carlos Boozer was during most of last season and the playoffs for the Bulls.

Look, there can be no doubting that Williams and Boozer are legitimate enough at what they do to make a considerable living doing it.

I was told Tuesday that Williams has a fleet of automobiles, presumably none of which has a Kia nameplate. He also sent a $76,000 engagement ring through the mail with a recorded marriage proposal to a beauty queen!

Why not? Roy Williams has been a good enough athlete that somebody always was willing to throw money at him.

The problem is that Williams and Boozer tend to thrill, then confuse and finally disappoint in the sense of, “That’s all there is?”

Boozer wasn’t terrible during his first season with the Bulls. He just wasn’t all that he was brought here to be.

Now it’s up to Williams to fill in the gap between poseur and player. If he sufficiently does so the Bears will have the big receiver they have been lacking.

But if Williams doesn’t he’ll be Boozer, a player who will need excuses made for him. You know, like saying that he’s still adjusting to playing with Joakim Noah, uh, make that Jay Cutler.

Carlos Boozer, of course, is the player who tripped over a bag, broke his hand and missed the start of the Bulls’ season a year ago.

If Roy Williams does likewise before the Bears’ season opener Sept. 11, he won’t be the only one going ouch!

mimrem@dailyherald.com