The Pittsburgh Steelers finally made a move for a wide receiver after months of speculation and rumors ahead of yesterday’s NFL trade deadline, acquiring WR Mike Williams from the New York Jets. The former No. 7 overall pick spent the first seven seasons of his career with the Los Angeles Chargers, and at 6-4, Williams’ size makes him a threat downfield. In Pittsburgh, he’s going to be playing with QB Russell Wilson, whose deep ball is his best trait, and Williams said that he thinks he and Wilson can “connect on a lot” of throws downfield.
“That’s something that I’ve been good at also in my career, is catching that deep ball and tracking the ball. So come down with a few of those, gain that trust in each other, and let’s connect on a lot of those,” Williams said per 93.7 The Fan on Twitter today.
Pittsburgh’s wide receiver room has had room for improvement all season, and the Steelers had been looking for help as early as August, when the team was pursuing Brandon Aiyuk while the San Francisco 49ers were shopping him around. After missing out on Aiyuk, the also Steelers missed on Davante Adams. He ended up getting traded to the Jets, which set the stage for Williams to become available.
Pittsburgh had interest in Williams dating back to the offseason, as he was scheduled to visit Pittsburgh as a free agent, but he signed with the Jets before he could make the visit to Pittsburgh. The Steelers clearly liked the idea of pairing Williams with Wilson, and now they’ve made it happen.
With Williams and George Pickens on the outside (although Williams could also play a big-slot role for the Steelers if needed), it’s going to be hard for teams to bring defenders down into the box as both are big-bodied deep threats. We’ve seen Pickens turn his season around a little bit and excel with Wilson under center over the last two games. While Williams doesn’t have the pure talent that Pickens does, his body type and contested-catch ability should make him a downfield threat for Pittsburgh and also a red zone threat.
We’ll see how quickly Williams can adapt to Pittsburgh’s offense and build a rapport with Wilson. He had a slow ramp-up with the Jets as he recovered from a torn ACL and never could truly develop chemistry with Aaron Rodgers, but he’ll likely get more of an opportunity with Pittsburgh in the second half of the season. If Williams can be the deep threat he was for the Chargers, then the Steelers will be very happy that they were able to finally acquire him.
