Free-agent running back DeAngelo Williams is still "waiting on the phone call" to join a team for the 2017 season, but there are four teams that he'd rather not hear from.
Williams, who scored 17 touchdowns as Le'Veon Bell's backup for two seasons in Pittsburgh, told ESPN's Adam Schefter in his Know Them From Adam podcast that he'd rather not play for the Cleveland Browns, Carolina Panthers, Jacksonville Jaguars or Dallas Cowboys.
While his reasons for not wanting to play for the Browns and Jaguars were business-related, they were purely personal regarding the Panthers and Cowboys.
He said the Panthers are on his do not call list because of the way they handled his release in 2015. He ran for 6,846 yards and 46 rushing TDs in his nine seasons with Carolina.
"I had no problems with getting fired, but there are things that went on there that I didn't like -- and I still don't like to this day," Williams told Schefter. "... There's no point in me going back there. You're an ex for a reason, right? You don't go back to exes, and that's just where I'm at there."
Williams, 34, who grew up as a fan of the San Francisco 49ers, wants nothing to do with the Cowboys -- mainly because of their fans.
"My fandom for the team I was raised as will not allow me to go to the Cowboys," Williams told Schefter. "I'm an '80s baby ... and the 49ers ruled the '80s. The Cowboys somewhat did something in the '90s; I even refuse to give them that. ...
"The Cowboys, they win. They just don't ever show up during the playoffs. They always disappear in the playoffs. I've got a great depiction of the Cowboys' fan base. During the regular season last year, they were on cloud nine. You couldn't tell them anything because they were going to win the 'ship -- that's all they said. Fans just got extremely super annoying. Then, the minute they lose, they either got cheated, somebody was hurt -- the excuses start flowing. It's just amazing to me. That fan base just in general can't handle defeat. Still, to this day, they say that the Dez Bryant catch against the Green Bay Packers was a catch!"
Williams understands if NFL fans are caught off guard by his blinding loyalty to his favorite team growing up.
"I'm a true fan, and I totally get it," Williams said. "And some would be like, 'You're stupid, you're crazy.' And then the fan base of the [Cowboys] is going be absolutely livid, but who cares? That's why we're fans."
Williams crossed off the Browns and Jaguars because he wants to go "where winning is something that's expected, not something that people get excited about."
"[The Browns] don't have a history of winning," Williams said. "I'm not sure about all of the championships they won before the Super Bowl was the Super Bowl, but in my lifetime, I haven't seen them have a winning season."
And the Jaguars?
"I can't think of anything positive about that organization outside of the fact that they have pools in the stadium," he said.
Williams made $4 million over two years with the Steelers, and he is open to returning to the team. A knee injury cost Williams nine games in 2016, but the veteran is now healthy and could start to draw interest as training camps approach in late July.
"I'm not ruling [Pittsburgh] out," he told Schefter in an earlier podcast.