Jets' Mike Williams returns to practice after being activated off PUP list
Jets wide receiver Mike Williams was activated off the PUP list at training camp on Thursday. Credit: Ed Murray
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – Garrett Wilson had a great day in a rainy joint practice with the Commanders on Thursday, frustrating assorted Washington defenders.
But that was not the big receiver news of the day. The news was that the Jets took another step toward getting a proper bookend for Wilson.
Mike Williams, who signed with the team in March, was activated off the physically unable perform list on Wednesday and practiced on a limited basis Thursday.
“It felt good,” said Williams, who signed a one-year deal worth up to $15 million with incentives.
Wilson is the Jets’ unquestioned No. 1 receiver, but coach Robert Saleh said that getting Williams involved would help ease the defensive pressure on the likes of Wilson and running back Breece Hall.
“He adds a lot just in terms of defenses having to balance out in terms of how they disperse their coverage,” Saleh said.
The question is how quickly Williams can get game ready. He tore an ACL in Week 3 of his seventh and final season with the Chargers last September.
While Saleh said Williams is ahead of schedule, that schedule might not align with the Sept. 9 opener against the 49ers.
For now, Saleh said Williams will do individual drills and other such work for the next week or two before returning to full team drills.
Williams said he simply was happy to have shoulder pads back on and to run around with his teammates, including quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
The process, Williams said, has been “a grind, that’s for sure. I’d say this whole process has been a grind, putting the work in, early mornings, late nights, just trying to get ready.”
But he said he has trusted the process, listening to the medical and training staffs, as well as to his body.
“I always thought there was a light at the end,” he said. “The results are going to show regardless, just continue to keep my head down, stay out of the way and work.”
Williams, 29, had 31 touchdown receptions and 4,806 receiving yards during his time with the Chargers. He believes he has enough experience to speed his path back to playing regularly.
“I’ve been playing football for a long time,” he said. “I feel like chemistry can come whenever I get out there.”
He has been working on his chemistry with Rodgers off the field, asking questions in meetings to make sure he can hit the ground running when the time comes.
“I’m just going to react to Aaron,” he said. “I’m going to let Aaron be Aaron. Aaron has been doing this for a long time, with a lot of different receivers. I’m just going to react to him.
“I feel like we’ll get on the same page quick. I feel like it won’t be a hard transition. I feel like we’re going to make each other’s job easy.”
Notes & quotes: Saleh said given the wet weather and the fact Rodgers will not play against the Commanders on Saturday, he opted not to let Rodgers practice. “He pushed back,” Saleh said. “He wanted to go.” But the coach chose to be extra-safe . . . Saleh said there has been no decision about whether Rodgers will play against the Giants in the preseason finale on Aug. 24. “It’s going to be a collaborative [decision],” he said . . . There were no significant scuffles between the Jets and Commanders. CB Sauce Gardner said that was because of a warning Saleh gave the team beforehand. Gardner did not detail the threat, but said, “It was a consequence that nobody wanted to receive.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
