Pat McAfee has corroborated a local report that the home of former Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams was raided by the FBI.
Williams resigned as defensive coordinator on Wednesday, citing health and family issues, after having been away from the team for nearly a week under mysterious circumstances, and expressed a desire to one day return to the NFL coaching ranks.
“Our sources told us that an FBI raid did occur on Alan Williams’ house,” McAfee said on his eponymous program, which airs on YouTube and ESPN, on Thursday.
Williams was on the Colts’ staff when McAfee was a punter for the team, and McAfee said that he couldn’t have foreseen any of the potentially dire reasons why the FBI would raid someone’s home to apply to him.
Before announcing the news, McAfee disclosed that he had been sued before — by Brett Favre, in relation to commentary about the Mississippi welfare scandal, in a matter that has since been resolved — the implication being that he would be very careful to go public with this type of sensitive information unless he was certain about its veracity.
McAfee speculated that the reason for the raid could have been drugs, based on Williams’ statement about health, but emphasized that he did not know the answer.
No explanation as to why the FBI allegedly raided the coach’s home has otherwise been revealed.
The news of an FBI raid on Williams’ home was first reported by Chicago sports talk host Jon Zaghoul.
Zaghoul also reported that the FBI raided the Bears’ facility, Halas Hall, which both the team and Williams’ attorney, Andrew M. Stroth, have denied.
“There is absolutely no criminal activity,” Stroth told 670 the Score on Wednesday, according to ProFootballTalk. “There are no criminal allegations. There has been no raid on Halas Hall. None of that is true.”
Zaghoul tweeted Wednesday that he stands by his reporting.
Stroth did not immediately respond to an email from The Post seeking comment about McAfee’s follow-up report.
The Bears have been quiet about the situation.
General manager Ryan Poles provided few details about the circumstances of Williams’ resignation, beyond denying the Halas Hall raid part of it.
“I don’t have many details to add there. Halas Hall being raided is completely false. Don’t know where that came from,” Poles told reporters Thursday.
“We’ve worked with [team president] Kevin [Warren] and [team chairman] George [McCaskey] and all our leadership to make sure we were handling it the right way, and everything concluded yesterday.”