What Mike Williams Does for the Jets Draft

Signing Mike Williams gives Joe Douglas and the Jets the flexibility they needed heading into this year’s draft. Mike Williams, who played only three games in 2024, is a bonafide number two receiver who played alongside Keenan Allen in Los Angeles for 7 seasons. Williams has the opportunity to line up beside Garrett Wilson, a receiver who possesses a very similar skill-set to Allen. Last season, in a historically bad offense, Wilson still managed to snag 95 receptions and post his second straight 1,000 yard season.

Photo by Wally Skalij

Signee’s Tyron Smith and John Simpson help bolster the Jets offensive line, along with Morgan Moses acquired via trade with Baltimore. These moves try to help reinvigorate and bring stability to an offensive line who saw 14 different combinations over the course of 14 games. With all of these injuries that happen at the expense of the Jets, and relying on Alijah Vera-Tucker to come back healthy after tearing his achilles tendon, the obvious choice is to pick an offensive lineman to continue to build the weakest unit on the team. However, with the big Free Agency signings of Williams, Smith, and Simpson, as well as acquiring Moses through the trade, the Jets have more flexibility with this pick than they did a month ago.

Photo by Getty Images

Before free agency began, the obvious choice at number 10 for the Jets was either an offensive tackle to protect Aaron Rodgers, or a number two wide receiver to pair with offensive weapons Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall. In an offensive lineman and wide receiver heavy draft, they would be able to get a top prospect at whichever position they chose. Now that they have solidified their offensive line and aren’t in need of a starter for this season, we can rule out tackle at number 10. Joe Douglas decided to give Mike Williams a one year, fifteen million dollar contract. This likely indicates that at least for this year, they do not need another top talent at wide receiver. Of course, you could always double up at one of these positions, but I think the smart thing to do would be to trade down and recoup a second round pick, which the Jets currently do not have. Doing this would open them up to picking both a lineman AND a wide receiver with two of the first 64 picks in the draft. Granted, these would not be one of the top three prospects like Rome Odunze, Joe Alt, or Malik Nabers, but the Jets won’t need these players to make an impact right away. Similar to the situation with Will McDonald last year, these rookies will get an opportunity to develop within a system and not be relied on to be true difference makers.

Photo by Justin Ford

After free agency and trades, the Jets are in a much better position than they were last year at this point. With a reliable bonafide number 2 wide receiver, a future Hall of Fame left tackle, and multiple upgrades along the offensive line, the problems that held down the offense last year seem to have been fixed, at least for the time being. The defense, losing mainly Bryce Huff in free agency so far, looks to come back with another dominant season under Defensive Coordinator Jeff Ulbrich. The Jets 2023 offensive was an overall pathetic performance on a weekly basis, managing only 22 touchdowns. With Aaron Rodgers coming back with new weapons and bodyguards up front, along with their show stopping defense, the Jets are in prime position to be this draft’s most compelling team.