The Pittsburgh Steelers have missed out on a couple notable receivers over the last two months with WR Brandon Aiyuk choosing to stay with the San Francisco 49ers and WR Davante Adams reuniting with Aaron Rodgers with the New York Jets. Adams joins an already-crowded receiving corps in New York, which should free up one of their receivers for a possible trade.
When the Adams trade went down, reports surfaced pretty quickly that the Jets plan to make WR Mike Williams available for trade. Given that the Steelers nearly had him in for a visit this offseason before he decided to sign with the Jets, it would make sense for there to be interest there. The Athletic’s Dianna Russini reported that the Steelers are one of the teams that have reached out about Williams.
ESPN’s Bill Barnwell wrote up 12 trade scenarios that could play out before the Nov. 5 trade deadline and listed Williams to the Steelers as one of his possibilities. Along with that, he had a mock trade drafted up, including the compensation. He has the Steelers sending just a 2025 seventh-round pick to the Jets for Williams.
“Davante Adams’ spot in the Jets’ starting lineup probably will come at the expense of Williams, who has been targeted on game-sealing interceptions in back-to-back games. In addition to not being on the same page with Aaron Rodgers, Williams doesn’t quite look all the way back from the torn ACL he suffered in September 2023,” Barnwell wrote. “At the same time, Williams is owed only about $837,000 over the rest of the season, which makes him a reasonable trade candidate for a team hoping the veteran gets healthier and returns to his old form.”
According to Jason Fitzgerald from Over The Cap, a team would need between $4 and $4.5 million to take on Williams contract from the Jets. Barnwell seems to be mistaken.
Barnwell also linked Williams to the Raiders because of Tom Telesco, who drafted and extended Williams with the Chargers, though the Raiders weren’t included in Russini’s report.
Whereas the Steelers would have been making pretty sizable commitments to Aiyuk and Adams in terms of the salary cap, Williams would be more affordable. There would be little to no risk involved, especially if they could get the Jets to part ways with him for a seventh-round pick.
For what it’s worth, Williams sat out practice on Wednesday for personal reasons. Some have already speculated that could be because of trade negotiations taking place.
The Steelers have gotten very little out of their receiving corps this season, especially from receivers not named George Pickens. With the deadline approaching in a little under three weeks, expect them to be active in looking for help.
