The Pittsburgh Steelers acquired New York Jets wide receiver Mike Williams two hours before the trade deadline Tuesday. In the deal, the Steelers sent a 2025 fifth-round pick to the Jets for Williams, and they’ll assume the remainder of his 2024 contract before he becomes a free agent next season. Fans had been waiting for months for GM Omar Khan to acquire another receiver opposite Pickens, and he finally fulfilled their wishes right before the clock expired. Williams is 30 and coming off an ACL tear in 2023, but he should slot in as the Steelers’ No. 2 receiver as soon as he acclimates to the offense.
Steelers beat writer Ray Fittipaldo shared his thoughts on the Mike Williams acquisition Tuesday during his weekly Pittsburgh Post-Gazette chat.
“I think it makes sense as he’s a bigger target who has displayed big-play abilities in his past,” Fittipaldo wrote. “After the Steelers failed to land Brandon Aiyuk and Davante Adams, I felt like the most logical thing to do was to find a receiver who is like George Pickens in the event Pickens gets hurt. Williams is not in Pickens’ class, but he’s like him. They have smaller and shiftier guys. They didn’t have someone who could step in if Pickens got hurt. Also, the compensation isn’t that bad. I think the Steelers are expecting to get some compensatory picks this year so I think that’s why they feel comfortable doing it.”
While I understand Fittipaldo’s conclusion — particularly that Williams and Pickens are similar players — I disagree with his primary takeaway being that Williams was added as a potential injury replacement for Pickens. I think the Steelers’ ambitions are much higher than that, and if Williams can even return to 80% of the player that he was for the Los Angeles Chargers before his ACL injury, the offense should be even more dangerous.
Williams has two 1,000-yard seasons, including a career-best 2021 campaign in which he posted 76 catches for 1,146 yards and nine touchdowns. He wasn’t meshing with Aaron Rodgers and the Jets this season, and the addition of Davante Adams to an already crowded Jets receiver room made Williams an obvious trade candidate. He’ll have an opportunity for a much more substantial role in Pittsburgh, and there’s reason to believe he’ll be a great fit for Russell Wilson and Arthur Smith’s offense.
Wilson loves to air the ball out down the sideline to big receivers. DK Metcalf, Courtland Sutton, and most recently George Pickens are a few examples of big-bodied receivers who developed a great connection with Wilson. He’s got fantastic placement and touch on balls outside the numbers, which is where Mike Williams made his money in Los Angeles.
Williams quickly became quarterback Justin Herbert’s favorite red zone and downfield target in Los Angeles, delivering in big moments like this one.
While snagging a bigger name wideout like Brandon Aiyuk or Cooper Kupp would have been fun, I truly believe that Williams will be a smoother fit in the Arthur Smith offense with Russell Wilson. This isn’t a Sean McVay or Kyle Shanahan offense, and Russell Wilson isn’t the type of quarterback to pepper receivers with targets in the short to intermediate range across the middle of the field. Williams should make some big plays down the field and garner some end zone targets. If nothing else, the former first-round pick alleviates some of the pressure from George Pickens and attracts defensive attention that Van Jefferson doesn’t at the moment.
