Since being traded at the deadline, the big question in Pittsburgh Steelers fans’ minds is: where is WR Mike Williams? Especially with WR George Pickens sidelined the last two games, why hasn’t Williams gotten the ball more? With Pickens potentially missing a third-straight game, it’s worth digging into how Williams is being used, how he’s not, and why he isn’t getting the ball.
Like we did when examining Pickens’ snap count controversy earlier this season, I pulled up the charting our Tom Mead does each week. It painted a clear picture.
In the Week 15 loss to the Eagles, Mike Williams played 15 snaps. Fourteen of those came in the team’s 11 personnel: their three-receiver sets and primary passing packages. Most of those came in clear passing moments, too. Seven came on third and long, three others during the team’s two-minute drill to close out the first half, and another in the fourth quarter when Pittsburgh was playing from behind and throwing.
So there is good news here. Mike Williams is being used when the Steelers want to throw the ball. And on all of his snaps last Sunday, Pittsburgh threw the ball. There is a concern about a “tell” of the offense throwing when he’s on the field, but that one-game snapshot isn’t enough to draw such a conclusion. Knowing how often he was playing in clear passing situations, his presence isn’t much of a tell.
He’s playing 68.9 percent of his snaps in 11 personnel for the season. He’s not nearly as involved in heavier packages. Even still, his lack of involvement there seemed more of a one-off. Since the Baltimore Ravens’ Week 11 game, here’s his snap count in 12, 13, and 21 personnel groupings.
Ravens Game – 8
Browns Game – 7
Bengals Game – 6
Browns Game – 7
Eagles Game – 1
He still wasn’t being used much in heavier groupings before the Eagles game, but he was picking up some snaps. That went away against Philadelphia? The reason why is harder to guess, but it seemed to be the team’s plan with a full week of preparation without Pickens. Use Williams in passing situations. Perhaps that was their way of managing his snaps under the assumption they’d need him more in the pass-game this week. And they surely assumed they’d run more than 41 offensive snaps and that, under normal circumstances, Williams would end up logging close to 30 of them.
Based on this information, Mike Williams’ usage doesn’t seem to be a major issue. He’s rotated in and had a niche role of snaps like the other receivers. He plays fewer snaps in “big” packages, which isn’t shocking, knowing that guys like Van Jefferson and Ben Skowronek are capable blockers. When they need to throw, Williams is getting chances.
In games before Philadelphia, other receivers were stepping up and earning their keep. Calvin Austin III has come on strong, while Jefferson and Skowronek were making the occasional play. The Eagles’ game is where things fell flat, but the lack of opportunity ruined Pittsburgh’s plan to get Williams more involved.
On tape, there were missed chances to get him the football. On Russell Wilson’s 3rd and 7 deep shot, he threw into triple-coverage while Williams looked more open on the dig. I get the real-time look of Wilson trying to take a shot against a flat-footed safety, but throwing deep to Jefferson isn’t like throwing to Pickens. And looks every bit of it in the film.
Late in the game, pressure from the Eagles overloading away from the Steelers’ slide forced the ball to be checked down to RB Cordarrelle Patterson in the flat for a loss. Had Wilson had more time, or at least more perceived time (the pressure isn’t as easy to spot from the aerial view), Mike Williams would have been open as the linebacker took the flat.
Finally, there were some scheme issues. There is bad/weird spacing between Williams and Austin. I’m not sure what happened or what went wrong.
I get the frustration of trading for a guy who had all of five catches in six games. It’s not been a great ROI, even if Williams did catch a win against the Washington Commanders, which I’d argue is win-enough right then and there. But for most of his time, the Steelers’ offense moved the ball and scored while other receivers, not named George Pickens, stepped up. That wasn’t the case in the Eagles’ game, but a lack of opportunity simply limited Williams’ chances, and missed reads or other factors prevented other potential catches.
Teams have also played more two-high shells with Pickens in the lineup, limiting outside vertical shots in Williams’ wheelhouse, and have led the Steelers to throw more over the middle of the field.
At this point, Mike Williams is much closer to a role player than a starter. His legs don’t have much juice, and he’s not a strong route runner. He has size and contest-catch ability, but his game has big limitations, which is why he was had for cheap at the trade deadline.
