DeAngelo Williams won’t handle his release like receiver Steve Smith – with guns blazing at the Carolina Panthers because they let him go – but the franchise’s all-time leading rusher is taking at least one big swing.

In an exclusive interview with WBTV’s Molly Grantham, Williams claimed Panthers owner Jerry Richardson didn’t immediately contact him after his mother passed away in May.

“There’s a couple of things that upset me about the Panthers when my mom died,” Williams told Grantham. “Nobody came to the funeral. The owner didn’t reach out; he didn’t say anything.”

Williams was extremely close with his mother, Sandra Hill, who fought a long battle with breast cancer. Before the season opener in Tampa Bay, he dyed his hair pink in her honor.

If Williams’ claim is true, it would be a strange reaction from a team that puts so much emphasis on family. Last month, general manager Dave Gettleman and head coach Ron Rivera attended the funeral of defensive end Charles Johnson’s grandmother in Georgia.

(UPDATE, Monday, 11:20 p.m: In a segment that aired Monday night, Williams told WBTV that he did talk to Gettleman and Rivera shortly after his mother passed away, and he said there’s a new team policy in place for when players lose family members.)

While he was upset at some in the organization for how he claims they acted when his mother died, Williams told Grantham he wasn’t bitter about their decision to release him:

“[Jonathan Stewart] had the hot hand at the end of the season. He’s a great running back, obviously. I don’t feel bitter at all. It’s a business. And that business comes back and reminds us year after year – whether it be Steve Smith, whether it be [former offensive tackle] Jordan Gross, whether it be myself – it’s going to happen to every guy in that locker room, so it doesn’t bother me at all.”