Chidi Ahanotu doesn’t know the Gregg Williams he heard in an audio tape last week urging New Orleans Saints defenders to go for head shots on players with a history of concussions and to target ACL’s.

Ahanotu played for the Buffalo Bills in 2002 when Gregg Williams was head coach and he didn’t recall anything like that when he played under the man.

“He was the softest coach I’ve been around,” Ahanotu told Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “It was to the point, really, where I said, ‘Man, this guy’s really not made out to be a coach.’ Honestly, that’s what I always felt in Buffalo — this is not football. His approach was very cerebral.”

There have been reports of a bounty system in Buffalo but no hard evidence is surfaced, and Ahanotu certainly didn’t have anything to corroborate that. Players have spoken specifically about a bounty system when Williams was in Washington, including National Football Post columnist Matt Bowen, who played for the Redskins under Williams.

“He was very cerebral, almost to a fault,” Ahanotu said. “He always talked about these complex things. It was like, ‘Man, can we just line up and play football.’ That’s how I always felt with him. I was only there for one year with him and coaches always develop and change. Maybe this is what he changed to.”

Nothing Williams said really offended Ahanotu until he started referencing ACL’s. That’s when he went from motivating his players to a dark place he shouldn’t be.

“I played D-line and we tried to knock the quarterback out,” Ahanotu said.” We tried to knock him out. We wanted to knock him out of the game. This was before all of the concussion awareness and that. But regardless whether you knock him out with a concussion, you want to hurt the guy. We weren’t trying to maim people out there but we wanted to get them out of the game.

“Even in this day in age — as a defensive lineman — you’re trying to get him out of the game. (But) when he starts talking about ACLs and concussions, especially in this age, I understand. The commissioner is totally validated for what he did.”

Follow me on Twitter: @BradBiggs

Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune
 

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PALM BEACH, FLA. - 

Buffalo Bills head coach Chan Gailey might have one unhappy running back this season, or even two. And he knows it.

But it’s a good thing.

The Bills have two running backs — Fred Jackson and C.J. Spiller — who impressed during their starting turns in 2011.

Jackson rushed for 934 yards and averaged 5.5 yards a carry before breaking a bone in his lower right leg in Game 10, then Spiller started the final six games, gaining 561 yards on a 5.2 average.

In 2012 they’ll both want the ball.

“That’s a great problem to have — to have two great players,” Gailey said Tuesday at the AFC coaches breakfast with the media at the NFL annual meeting.

“I know one thing. They’re both not going to be totally happy with the number of touches that they get. With only one football and several guys who can make plays, everybody’s not going to be happy. That’s part of it. So you do the best you can to use C.J. and Fred in different ways to get them the ball, because they’re both capable of making big plays.”

Gailey reiterated what he said last month at the scouting combine — that the Bills would find ways to get both players on the field at once. Each back made 39 catches in 2011.

“They’re going to be in there at the same time, somewhere,” Gailey said.

General manager Buddy Nix said he intends to extend Jackson’s contract. The 31-year-old has one year remaining on his deal.

“We’re going to make him an offer,” Nix told QMI Agency Tuesday. “The only thing that can keep us from getting anything done is if he doesn’t sign it.”

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) Running back Tashard Choice has agreed to re-sign with the Buffalo Bills after being a late-season pickup last year.

Choice had 23 carries for 70 yards, and added seven catches for 51 yards in six games with Buffalo. The Bills claimed him off waivers on Nov. 23 after starter Fred Jackson broke his right leg.

Choice is expected to compete for a reserve spot behind a fully recovered Jackson and C.J. Spiller.

Buffalo was Choice’s third team last season after he opened with Dallas before being waived, and was then claimed by Washington.

Choice spent his first three NFL seasons with the Cowboys, who selected him in the fourth round of the 2008 draft. He has 1,216 yards rushing and nine touchdowns in 61 career games, including four starts.