Welcome back, Mike Williams. He practiced with the Jets for the first time on Thursday, making it look likely that he’ll be in the starting lineup in Week 1.
If he’s right physically, Williams should be an above-average outside receiver, using his length (he’s 6-foot-4) to pull down high throws on downfield passes. The Jets signed him to a one-year deal worth up to $10 million, and that will be a good value if Williams can get back to playing how he did previously.
Williams got off to a good start last year, with 19 catches in three games, but tore his ACL in a shootout against the Vikings. The former top-10 pick will be 30 in October.
“He’s a lot further ahead than we anticipated,” Robert Saleh said (as quoted in the New York Post. “He’ll be involved in all the walk-throughs, individual, routes on air, so for the next week or two, that’s about the extent of what we’ll see unless he starts feeling good, but we’ll anticipate him getting back into team work maybe a couple weeks from now.”
The Jets have Garrett Wilson, who should be their featured receiver (Wilson should outperform Williams). They’ve also got Allen Lazard as a possibility to line up outside. Lazard fizzled last year (he was a healthy scratch in three late-season games) but may bounce back some with Aaron Rodgers back in the fold. If Williams has any issues with his surgically repaired knee, it should instead by Lazard starting in that spot.
The Jets drafted Malachi Corley in the third round, but he’s more of a slot player – built like a running back.
It remains to be seen if Williams is quite the same athletically. He’s also playing with a 40-year-old quarterback who hasn’t played well in 2021. But Williams looks like a possibility to come up big in some weeks, flipping some losses into wins.
Williams in his last three seasons has averaged 4.9 catches for 72 yards in 32 games, with 14 touchdowns. Using PPR scoring, that ranks him 15th among wide receivers who’ve started over half the time. This upcoming Jets team won’t be passing for as many yards or touchdowns as the offense Williams was working with in Los Angeles, but he looks like a credible enough later-round wide receiver.
| RECEIVERS PER GAME (last 3 yrs) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rk | Player | St | No | Yds | TD | PPR |
| 1. | Cooper Kupp | 38 | 7.3 | 92.0 | .75 | 21.2 |
| 2. | Tyreek Hill | 49 | 7.1 | 96.9 | .61 | 20.8 |
| 3. | Justin Jefferson | 44 | 6.9 | 102.3 | .55 | 20.5 |
| 4. | Davante Adams | 50 | 6.5 | 84.3 | .66 | 18.9 |
| 5. | CeeDee Lamb | 50 | 6.4 | 84.2 | .59 | 18.8 |
| 6. | JaMarr Chase | 44 | 6.0 | 83.9 | .66 | 18.4 |
| 7. | Keenan Allen | 39 | 7.2 | 80.3 | .44 | 17.9 |
| 8. | Stefon Diggs | 50 | 6.4 | 76.7 | .59 | 17.6 |
| 9. | Deebo Samuel | 43 | 4.4 | 67.6 | .72 | 17.4 |
| 10. | Amon-Ra St. Brown | 49 | 6.4 | 73.2 | .46 | 16.9 |
| 11. | A.J. Brown | 47 | 5.5 | 81.3 | .49 | 16.5 |
| 12. | Mike Evans | 48 | 4.8 | 71.1 | .69 | 16.1 |
| 13. | Jaylen Waddle | 47 | 5.3 | 72.0 | .40 | 15.1 |
| 14. | Chris Godwin | 46 | 6.2 | 68.5 | .28 | 14.8 |
| 15. | Mike Williams | 32 | 4.9 | 71.6 | .45 | 14.8 |
| 16. | DeAndre Hopkins | 36 | 5.0 | 65.2 | .50 | 14.6 |
| 17. | Michael Pittman | 49 | 6.0 | 64.5 | .31 | 14.5 |
| 18. | Amari Cooper | 47 | 4.6 | 69.7 | .48 | 14.5 |
| 19. | DJ Moore | 51 | 4.9 | 66.8 | .40 | 14.3 |
| 20. | Tee Higgins | 41 | 4.6 | 67.7 | .46 | 14.1 |
| 21. | DK Metcalf | 50 | 4.6 | 62.6 | .52 | 14.0 |
| 22. | Chris Olave | 31 | 5.1 | 69.8 | .31 | 14.0 |
| 23. | Tyler Lockett | 49 | 4.8 | 63.3 | .46 | 13.9 |
| 24. | DeVonta Smith | 50 | 4.8 | 63.6 | .39 | 13.5 |
| 25. | Diontae Johnson | 46 | 5.3 | 60.0 | .30 | 13.3 |
| 26. | Garrett Wilson | 32 | 5.4 | 65.2 | .22 | 13.2 |
| 27. | Brandon Aiyuk | 49 | 4.2 | 64.4 | .41 | 13.2 |
| 28. | Christian Kirk | 46 | 4.7 | 62.5 | .35 | 13.1 |
| 29. | Adam Thielen | 47 | 5.1 | 52.3 | .44 | 13.0 |
| 30. | Terry McLaurin | 51 | 4.6 | 63.6 | .29 | 12.8 |
—Ian Allan