Mike Williams has already set a career-best in receptions and is well on his way to setting a new career-best in receiving yards for the LA Chargers this season. Williams started out the season strongly and while he has been cold in recent weeks, his overall numbers have been solid.
Williams is a free agent after this season and after his hot start to the 2021 season he seemingly already earned a new contract with the Bolts. However, after seeing how the rest of the season has panned out, and what this team needs, it is clear that the Bolts can move on from Williams after 2021.
3 reasons why the LA Chargers should move on from Mike Williams after 2021:
1. Mike Williams is inconsistent
If this season has shown us anything it is that Mike Williams is the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Williams started the season looking like one of the best receivers in the league and it finally looked like the seventh overall selection on him was going to be worthwhile. Since then, Williams has returned back to where he has spent most of his career, looking more like a WR3 than a WR1.
He has still had some big moments, such as his game-winning touchdown against the Steelers, but that was more of a bust in coverage than anything else. Williams has not been consistently able to play like a top-tier wide receiver and the Chargers should not pay him like one if he can only play like that 30% of the time.
This also accounts for his injury history as well. While he has been mostly healthy all of 2021, Williams does not have a great injury history and it can be hard to commit that much money to someone with that kind of past.
HIs inconsistencies might be a sign of something bigger, though, which gets into our second reason.
2. Mike Williams is not good enough to be a WR1
This might sound controversial but this explains his inconsistencies more than anything. Mike Williams has not been as impactful since the start of the season because the start of the season was an anomaly. It is the one period of his career that stands out above the rest and for a reason.
Williams is a fine wide receiver don't get me wrong but he is never going to be worthy of being a WR1 on a good football team. However, because of his insane start to the season that will lead to decent numbers (also because the Chargers throw the ball so much), there will be a team that wants to pay Williams like a WR1 and that simply is not worth it.
Williams has ranked among the worst in the league in getting open against man coverage all season. That is a problem. A receiver cannot be a true WR1 if he cannot get open against man coverage and that has been the problem with Williams since the start of the season. Teams have noticed his flaws and have been able to man him up without having to pay for it.
Think back to some of Williams' biggest moments as well. A lot of his huge gains this season (which account for most of his receiving yards) were the result of broken coverage that left him wide-open. It was not elite route-running like Keenan Allen. It was defensive mistakes.
This also leads us to his best season as a pro thus far, 2019. In 2019, Williams hit the 1,000-yard mark because Philip Rivers decided to chuck balls up on a bad Chargers team without any real remorse. While Williams made some spectacular catches, it is not like he was open often. Rivers was throwing prayers into coverage and Williams was hauling them in as a good jump-ball receiver.
That is not sustainable though. While you can come up in certain moments you cannot be a consistent, true top receiver if you cannot get open consistently. That is why he is inconsistent.
3. There is someone else the LA Chargers should spend money on
The LA Chargers need receiving help next season and the answer isn't Mike Williams. While a lot of fans like to blame Joe Lombardi for some of the bad games by the Chargers offense, the fact of the matter is that Justin Herbert does not have that great of weapons. Keenan Allen is obviously elite as is Austin Ekeler but Ekeler can only do so much as a dual-threat back. Aside from Allen, Herbert has Williams, who cannot get open against man, Jalen Guyton and Joshua Palmer.
It has been bad, to say the least. The team needs some receiving help and while Palmer should take a leap in year two the team needs more than just that. They need to make a splashy signing with all of the rolled-over cap from this season. They should sign Davante Adams.
This is a move that would truly make the Chargers a Super Bowl contender as it would give one of the best young quarterbacks in the league two elite wide receivers. If the Chargers can utilize the draft and the rest of the cap space to build up both lines then they would be in business for a deep run in 2022.
Adams is going to cost more than Williams but the investment would be worth it for the Bolts. Why pay Mike Williams a top-tier receiver salary when they can probably pay Adams $5 million more per season? If they are going to spend that much, they might as well spend on a true WR1 in Adams.
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Now, the LA Chargers would run the risk of not getting either receiver, but quite frankly, Williams might not even be worth the $17-20 million salary he will get paid on his new deal because of the reasons already outlined.