How a lot will Mike Williams play in his second sport with the Steelers?
The Pittsburgh Steelers wouldn’t have traded a fifth-round choose for Mike Williams in the event that they didn’t plan to make use of him. Now, he didn’t play a lot in his Steelers debut, however that’s as a result of he hardly had time to observe. And, after all, he made the one play he had an opportunity to make, which was a reasonably large one.
Now that he has a full week underneath his belt, he is aware of what the Steelers need him to do higher. They are going to nonetheless emphasize the run sport, however the place does Mike Williams match in additional typically? They’re nonetheless enjoying Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III, and he’s nonetheless breaking himself in.
Clearly, making a giant play like his 32-yard landing will assist Williams see the sector extra. Russell Wilson’s deep ball is without doubt one of the Steelers’ most potent belongings, and so they believed once they drafted for him that he may construct that energy even additional. A man like Austin is quick, however he has a small catch radius and received’t win 50 p.c of fifty/50 balls.
Mike Williams has talked about WR coach Zach Azzanni a pair occasions already since arriving. He says the Steelers’ alignments are just about the identical because the Jets’, since Azzanni came visiting from there. That helped him hit the bottom working, so to talk, however they nonetheless didn’t have large plans for him.
So the query is, how a lot of a distinction does per week make? After all there are issues a large receiver will be capable of do coming off the road, because the job at its core is usually working and catching. However there are nuances in an NFL offense, which the Steelers lastly have, that take time to study. Mike Williams is on his third crew and who is aware of what number of offensive coordinators he’s had.
He most likely is aware of a factor or two about adapting to totally different programs. However the offense was already going fairly good total with out him. Williams confirmed he can take part, however how large of a task will he have, and the way quickly? May he play 25-30 snaps for the Steelers of their first divisional sport?
The Steelers’ 2024 season is underway, following one other disappointing yr ending in a first-round playoff loss. They’ve had an extended offseason for the reason that Buffalo Payments stamped them out of their distress again in January. There are optimistic indicators, however issues may leap off the rails any second.
The largest query hanging over the crew is the quarterback query. Is Russell Wilson incomes a profitable new deal subsequent yr, and is Justin Fields nonetheless in consideration? How will the crew proceed to handle the depth chart, which is surprisingly nonetheless in flux?
The common season is right here, following weeks of camp and preseason video games. The Steelers made quite a few strikes via signings and commerce—and launch. Greater than standard, they appeared comfy creating holes, assured they will fill them. Some they managed to fill, others not a lot. Now that we have now so many items of the puzzle, nonetheless, we merely have a brand new set of inquiries to ask.
