The Pittsburgh Steelers have looked Mike Williams’ way once in three games. Considering they traded a fifth-round pick for him, and he’s a wide receiver, that might be surprising. Make no mistake—it is. Despite the lack of targets, he is playing to the tune of 53 snaps. And the large majority of his snaps are on passing plays. So, what is his mindset when moving into the next phase of his tenure with the Steelers?
“For me, I’ve always been like, when your number is called, be ready”, Williams told Mike DeFabo for The Athletic. “You don’t want to be sitting around and then a situation like Washington comes up and the ball is in the air for you, everybody watching, and you drop the ball”.
The Washington situation refers to his lone target, which wound up being a 32-yard game-winning touchdown. Mike Williams only started practicing with the Steelers a few days earlier, and that was his ninth snap of the game. He was only playing because Calvin Austin III went out earlier in that drive—it was Austin’s route.
But Russell Wilson didn’t hesitate to look the big man’s way, even giving him some last-second pointers before the play. Wilson delivered the ball Williams needed, and Williams made the catch the Steelers needed.
But despite playing 44 more snaps since then, they haven’t looked his way again. It’s not entirely clear why, but he’s not sweating it. All Williams is paying attention to is staying ready for his next opportunity.
“It’s just being prepared and ready for any situation, any opportunities, and just be ready when my number’s called”, Williams said. “That’s all I can do for real. I just go out there and do my job. As long as I keep doing that, I feel like I can benefit”.
DeFabo also quotes Williams as saying he believes he is up to speed with the offense. He said that he is alternating series right now, taking the third-receiver snaps typically when they run out of 11 personnel. After three weeks, will the Steelers start running plays where he is the first or second target?
After all, the Steelers were looking for a wide receiver and spent months targeting them. They coveted Mike Williams enough to give up a decent pick for him. This is a team with Super Bowl aspirations and one that felt it was short of a receiver.
At some point, they will have to get him into the game. While the Ravens didn’t invest as much, they probably feel similarly about Diontae Johnson. Not everybody will have a DeAndre Hopkins-like impact, but they can gain more from Williams than they have up to this point. And whenever they come looking for it, he insists he will be ready.
