With the offensive line largely solidified following the Jets signing of Tyron Smith, wide receiver now becomes the team’s biggest need.
A potential answer for the Jets is Mike Williams, who will reportedly be meeting with them on Monday, according to Panthers beat writer Sheena Quick. Williams will then be meeting with the Panthers on Tuesday.
With the Chargers in a dire salary cap situation, which included being about $25 million over the salary cap just hours before the new league year began, part of their salary cap dump included releasing Williams. For 2024, Williams had a hefty cap hit of $32.46 million.
Williams is coming off a 2023 season where he played only three games. The season prior, Williams appeared in 13 games and totaled 895 yards while catching 70 percent of his targets at 14.2 yards per catch with four scores.
From the 2018 through 2021 seasons, Williams missed just two games. His best season came in 2021, when he went for 1,146 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. Williams also eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in 2019.
Throughout his career, Williams has been very good in contested catch situations and when at his best, he also provided the Chargers offense with a downfield presence. However, as former Chargers head coach Brandon Staley noted, Williams adds more to an offense than just that element.
“To me,” said Staley of Williams, “he’s like a three or four in the NBA. I want this guy on more inbreaking cuts. I want this guy on the basics, the digs — specifically, the slants. When you have to defend the nine-route against the guy who can climb the ladder, the route that you must complement a 9-route with is a slant.
“He’s s 6-foot-four, 220 pounds; this guy’s a power forward. He’s going to box you out most of the time and it’s just tough on us defensively.”
In general, the Jets need a more dynamic target to pair with Wilson, which hopefully takes at least some attention off of him, along with forcing the defense to defend the entire field, thus opening up more opportunities in the passing game elsewhere for others.
Last season, Allen Lazard, with 311 receiving yards, was the Jets’ second-leading receiver.
It’s not quite clear what Williams’ market will develop into contract-wise, and it becomes a bit more murky given that he’s dealt with injuries each of the last two seasons.
Over the Cap currently has the Jets with $25.3 million in cap space, although that doesn’t include a few of their recent additions, including Tyron Smith.
With the Jets’ starting offensive line set, there is less urgency to address the receiver need in free agency, given that Joe Douglas now has more flexibility to use the 10th overall pick on a different position other than tackle, not to mention that this is a loaded wide receiver draft class.
