The NFL is a business at the end of the day, and biting the bullet on the oft-injured Mike Williams was evidently easier to stomach for the Chargers than kicking either of the team’s premier edge rushers in Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack to the curb.
Williams, who tore his ACL early in the 2023 season, will face an uphill battle to sign with a team any time soon as he continues to work through his recovery – but at just 29 years old, he’s likely to find a destination for the 2024 season later this summer. In his last full season in 2021, Williams posted a cool 76/1146/9 line en route to his most recent top-12 PPR finish albeit as part of a pass-happy offense that saw Justin Herbert attempt a blistering 672 passes. That type of volume won’t easily be uncovered throughout the league, but even then, Williams is likely more suited to a WR2 role than a true WR1 at this point in his career.
With multiple opportunities in 2022 to prove that he can be a true WR1 without Keenan Allen in the lineup, Williams folded. With his 2024 team yet to be revealed and the chance that he could miss some time early in the season, Williams will almost certainly carry a heavily deflated price tag heading into draft season. Whether he’ll be worth the risk at whatever his price ends up being remains unknown.