The Pittsburgh Steelers finally acquired help at wide receiver just ahead of the trade deadline with Mike Williams being traded from the New York Jets. But how soon will he be ready to contribute for the Steelers?
According to one insider, we should see him this weekend against the Washington Commanders.
“As long as there’s no lingering injuries that I don’t know about from New York, I think he dressed this past weekend and played, he should be good to go. And yes, I would expect them to get him in here right away,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Ray Fittipaldo said via 93.7 The Fan’s Morning Show. “They have Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday to get him up to speed in the offense and as long as he can handle the playbook, yeah, I think they’ll try to hit the ground running. There’s only nine games left. I think you wanna work him in as soon as possible.”
Williams has appeared in all nine games for the Jets this season after returning from an ACL injury in 2023. He hasn’t been highly productive compared to the rest of his career, which is partially due to his age and recent injury, but it can also be blamed on the Jets’ crowded receiving corps and an offense that wasn’t quite firing on all cylinders.
Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III more or less shared the WR2 responsibilities opposite George Pickens with Austin having a larger share of snaps out of the slot. Williams will likely cut into Jefferson’s snaps more than he will Austin’s, especially with Austin’s recent success. In fact, both Jefferson and Austin have more receptions than Williams this season. Pretty ironic considering he is being brought in to help fix the WR2 situation.
Williams won’t need to know much of the playbook to run a couple deep routes and catch some moon balls from Russell Wilson. Even with his diminished production this year so far, Williams has at least three or four nice, contested catches near the sideline. For a full look at what he offers the Steelers, check out the film room I completed on him yesterday.
