What type of player are the Pittsburgh Steelers getting in Mike Williams, and are the last nine games indicative of that? That’s the question Steelers fans are asking: are they getting the New York Jets’ Mike Williams? There is reason to hope for otherwise, and even ESPN Jets beat writer Rich Cimini concedes as much.
Throughout his career, Mike Williams has been associated with two things: contested catches and deep balls. Cimini agrees. “That’s what you would think you’d get from him”, he said on 93.7 The Fan earlier this week. “The Jets really didn’t use him in that fashion. He only had 10 or 12 receptions with the Jets. He was not targeted many times at all. They didn’t really utilize him in the red zone that much. He had a couple of nice, acrobatic-type catches on third-down situations, one a fourth-down situation”.
Throughout his brief Jets tenure, Mike Williams only saw 21 targets. He caught 12 of them for 166 yards, fading in usage and production late. In his four games before the trade to the Steelers, he caught two passes for 21 yards. Yet from Week 2 to Week 5, Williams caught 10 passes for 141 yards. You could get a respectable season out of that projected over a full year, especially with a progressive projection.
Aaron Rodgers is not the same deep-ball passer in terms of volume that he used to be. Typically accounting for about 15 percent of his passes, that is down to 11 percent this season. Yet he is still putting up numbers, 16-for-35 for 441 yards and six touchdowns with two interceptions. Williams was 2-for-4 on his deep targets from Rodgers for 43 yards, though one ended in an interception.
William has a history of success down the field and in contested situations. It’s only a matter if the Steelers can put him in position to take advantage of them. And, of course, a matter of him still having that. Even though Cimini called him a “diminished player”, he doesn’t deny Williams’ talent.
“They’re gonna get a guy who is still probably not 100 percent in terms of his speed and cutting ability, but if you throw up a 50/50, with his size at 6-4 and his instincts, I think he’s got a good chance of coming down with it,” he said.
We don’t know quite yet how the Steelers will use Mike Williams, but I’m sure they would like him to be the No. 2 WR as soon as he is ready for the role. He has some familiarity with their receiver concepts thanks to Zach Azzanni’s time in New York, so that is a help. But it may be a few weeks before he is a big contributor to this passing game. Whether or not the trade is worth it will be determined in January and February.
