Despite Allen Lazard‘s IR trip, the Jets will not hang onto Mike Williams. Instead, he will be the Steelers’ long-sought-after receiver upgrade.
Pittsburgh is sending New York a fifth-round pick for the recent free agency addition, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. The pick exchanged is a 2025 choice. The Steelers have been in on Williams for a bit, checking in with the Jets shortly after their Davante Adams acquisition prompted them to shop the March addition. And the Steelers, at long last, have a George Pickens complementary piece. New York will receive the lower of Pittsburgh’s fifth-round selections, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero clarifies.
Williams, 30, is not having a good season. Signing a one-year deal worth $10MM, the former Chargers 1,000-yard target has just 12 receptions for 166 yards this year. He will join Mecole Hardman as a Jets free agent WR pickup to be traded months later. Williams, of course, has produced on a higher level before. The Steelers will hope the former top-10 pick has some of his Chargers-years form left.
While the Steelers have been in on a Williams trade for a bit, they were interested in him during the period between his Chargers release and Jets signing. Pittsburgh joined Carolina in scheduling free agency visits with Williams, but after his New York meeting, both the other trips were cancelled. The fit with the Aaron Rodgers-led Jets, however, did not pan out.
A late-game slip led to a crucial Bills interception in Week 6, the Jets’ first post-Robert Saleh loss, but Williams had never quite found his footing in the team’s offense prior to that sequence. Rodgers criticizing Williams’ route postgame probably did not help matters. Coming back from a September 2023 ACL tear, Williams debuted on time with New York but saw Lazard — Rodgers’ longtime teammate from his Packers years — effectively usurp him in the Jets’ WR hierarchy. With Adams now in the fold alongside Garrett Wilson, there did not appear much meat on the bone left for Williams.
Even though Lazard’s Week 9 IR trip threw a wrench into the Williams trade market, the Jets may also have tried to use it as leverage by attempting to convince teams they would just keep Williams. Now, the Jets will go with the likes of Malachi Corley and Xavier Gipson behind their top two in the meantime. Williams has a path to becoming the Steelers’ WR2 in a now-Russell Wilson-centered offense.
Williams has two 1,000-yard seasons on his resume. The Chargers mostly used the Clemson product — the No. 7 overall pick in the 2017 draft — as a deep threat, but the 6-foot-4 target showed more range to his game during Joe Lombardi‘s OC run. The Bolts gave a longer look at Williams as a versatile weapon from 2021-22, and he turned in his best season in ’21 to help Justin Herbert become the AFC’s Pro Bowl starter. Williams posted 1,146 receiving yards and nine touchdowns that season, making crucial catches during a season-ending Raiders clash that nearly booted the Steelers from the playoffs — a game-winning Las Vegas field goal then eliminated the Chargers, who would have qualified with a tie.
The 2022 season, however, brought more injury trouble. After missing time earlier in the season, Williams suffered a back fracture in a meaningless Week 18 game in Denver. This weakened Los Angeles’ aerial attack ahead of the Jacksonville wild-card tilt, which became an infamous chapter for the AFC West franchise, which blew a 27-point lead without its talented WR2. With Brandon Staley’s seat warm after the Williams injury the previous season, the longtime Keenan Allen sidekick then went down with an ACL tear in Week 3 of last season.
Despite using his contract to reach cap compliance in March, the Chargers also looked into a trade with the Jets. But the Bolts are standing down, though more than two hours remain until the trade deadline. Williams’ early career brought a 10-touchdown 2018 and an NFL-leading 20.4 yards per reception in 2019; those long-game numbers may be relevant again thanks to Wilson’s deep-ball prowess. Then again, Williams is at a slightly different point in his career. It will be interesting to see if the Steelers attempt to tap into the long-range skillset that Williams displayed in his early 20s.
The Steelers will take on the remainder of Williams’ salary, Schefter adds, following the Jets’ lead in doing so after a wide receiver trade. Though, the bill will be much lower for Pittsburgh. Williams is due roughly $2.5MM the rest of the way. Although the Steelers have seen slot weapon Calvin Austin fare better in Wilson’s starts, Williams likely moves ahead of him and Van Jefferson in the team’s aerial hierarchy soon. Though, the Steelers will certainly need to manage their trade pickup due to his injury past.
This wraps a fascinating odyssey for the Steelers, whose initial Williams look preceded extensive work on WRs. The Steelers asked about Deebo Samuel during the draft and then agreed to trade framework with the 49ers during the Brandon Aiyuk saga. After Aiyuk chose a 49ers extension over a Steelers trade, the team regrouped before being in on the Adams and Cooper Kupp markets. The latter did not exactly last too long, as the Rams have now won three straight to return to playoff contention. Interest in Courtland Sutton and Darius Slayton emerged as well, but the Steelers have their hired gun in Williams.
As Williams will have a chance to play a bigger role and potentially create a decent market for himself in 2025, the Jets will attempt to get by with younger tertiary targets. Known more for trading away wideouts than acquiring them, the Steelers will hold Williams’ exclusive negotiating rights until the March legal tampering period.
Would’ve been cool 5 years ago.
Given some of the names that have been bandied about, I’m not sure how much this moves the needle.
More than what i was expecting tbh. Thought itd be a conditional 6th only to miss the condition and it becomes a 2026 7th lol
Makes sense for both sides. He’ll likely improve as he gets further away from injury recovery and he’s a better fit for Wilson than Rodgers. Good for the Jets to get a fifth for a rental who just wasn’t fitting.
@Oooof Rodgers doesn’t know his strengths, and it’s not balls off his shoelaces
he gets like 0 separation even going back to his 2023 season
@begamin. Yeah he couldn’t separate very much when he tore his acl on week 3 early in the game. He’s was having a projected career year. He’s also not tyreek hill he has the best vertical jump in game just throw it high.
Even the games he played healthy he gets little separation is the point. Separation % isnt affected on the IR case you didnt know. Besides, thats the past, in 2024 he ranks 104th in separation on playerprofiler . com
LOL what? Mike Williams had the 33rd best vertical jump among wide receivers at the combine in his class ALONE. He was a good deep ball guy because of height and body control not because he could jump. If you think that at 30 years old and off an ACL tear he’s somehow gained this ability to jump, that’s crazy.
A 5th seems a bit high but they cornered themselves into this one. Happy to see they at least tried to move the needle rather than stand around. Shame still goes to the “Khan Artist” for moving Diontae this summer without a clear avenue to replace the production
He was projected as a 6th rounder. I wouldn’t say high.
Consider the capital moved for some other receivers this seems high for a guy on an expiring contract who hasn’t done much of anything and prompted the Jets to get desperate in trading for Adams.
Every website I have seen everyone’s comments are too high a price or washed up or should have could have. All these experts must have really good jobs or they would be one of 32 GMs in the league.
You are doing the same thing just the other side of the spectrum
This is the correct level of investment (unless they could have gotten Metcalf).
Man can he still produce though? At this rate Calvin Austin is a better player. Mike seriously has to perform
I would have liked for them to take a shot at getting Olave but I guess the asking price and his history of concussions may have tempered that. Metcalf I never even considered a possibility.
No one even knows Olave’s status. He could be out for a prolonged period after last weekend’s concussion.
You don’t even know if olave was available for a trade. Besides he’s got a concussion
This trade does absolutely NOTHING to move the needle for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They could have Thielen who is likely to make more of an impact than Mike Williams. There were other WRS to be had on the market but they chose a guy who hasn’t stayed healthy nor productive in years.
I get the move, but they settled for the wrong WR to trade for.
Adam Thielen
Courtland Sutton (maybe)
Darius Slayton
All of these were available. SMH
Could the Steelers have traded their 4th round pick (2025) for a WR? Or is it tied up because of the Fields conditional 6th?
That could have been a stumbling point on Sutton/Slayton?
I was a fan of Slayton, but still want to know what’s going on with Roman Wilson…
I think it’s tied up due to the legality behind the pick. Slayton would have been much better compliment to Pickens than Mike Williams.
Well they finally did something, better then not adding a guy.
If he can just catch the ball on reasonable third downs, he will help Wilson.
Might just be me but this deadline has been underwhelming
It really has lmao
Perfectly respectable acquisition. I wouldn’t have given more than a 6th but Khan is better at being a GM than I am. He certainly helps, he could be a big improvement, and he doesn’t break the bank.
So…with Lazard on IR, this just means Malachi “Butterfingers” Corley gets more playing time. This should be interesting to watch. Lol
A 5th for an underachieving often injured WR? Over/Under on games played the rest of the season? I’ll go 2. Total Fleecing by the Jets. They finally did something right anyway.