Get Mike Williams Signed To a New Contract Now

[FarAwayBoltFan]

This thread cracks me up.
The vast majority of this board was calling for MikeDub to be traded prior to the draft.
Posters badmouthing MW for the past 4 years for every reason they could think of valid or not.
Now the board is on the Dub bandwagon. Funny what 3 weeks/games can do.

For the record, I always wanted to keep Mike Williams as a Charger. But, to my eyes he hadn't earned a $15 million dollar payday so I expected the parties to negotiate a long term contract commensurate with his past performance before the option deadline. That didn't happen.

Because they hadn't negotiated a contract, I expected the team to let him test free agency and was pleasantly surprised when they picked up his 5th year option. I saw it as a good faith effort to prove the team's interest in negotiating a long term contract with a smaller cap hit before the season started. That didn't happen either.

What has happened is that Big Mike has (so far) blossomed in the new system into a WR worthy of the 2017 #7 overall pick. He makes Justin better. He makes Keenan better. He makes the Charger's better. We should negotiate a contract to keep him while we are the only team he can.

The only contract leverage I see (other than the threat of the franchise tag) is the injury security of a long term deal. Each week that security becomes less valuable. So if I were TT, I call his agent 1st thing in the morning and try and get something done.

[Steve]

Re the final graph, two things come to mind:

1. Jared Cook is not playing to the level I expected from him, which may or many not help explain why the offense is not there yet. He *should* be that third weapons you speak of. But it is early and I still expect him to become a factor in the offense.

2. The decision to waive Tyron Johnson...he also could be that third weapon. I like Guyton, but he is not the player Johnson was paired with Herbert. Johnson had better hands, for one. I just think he was the gritter of the two players. Josh Palmer is going to take some time develop. In TJ, we had a WR who was ready to compete in the NFL and had shown he was able to.

Cook is a decent weapon, but at his age, and on his 1 year deal, he is not really going to be that much help, except in the short term.

Johnson could be the 3rd receiver too, I agree. I was a little surprised he was cut. Reed was the guy who I expected was going to get let go. He has the size of a RB at WR, but he doesn't get on the field that much (practice squad, injured on Chargers.com ). He is impressive physically, but a much less impressive player.

What I keep hoping will happen is that Jackson, Kelley and/or Roundtree will step up and we can use Ekeler in the slot more. He is a good runner, but it would be nice to get him in the routes faster.

I really liked Bandy in the PS. Not that he is that great, but he has quickness that the others seem to lack. Having long speed is nice, but short area quickness helps to get that initial separation to make moves and get those extra yards. That is why Ekeler is so explosive, he has that quickness to make the 1st guy miss, and then exploits it. besides, we can always move Ekeler around to play both spots.

[Steve]

I think Williams being more of a deep threat was the old coaching staff playing to Williams strength. He was, relatively speaking a deep threat in college. And that is largely how we used him.

But at some point, the coaches need to go and say "You know what, if you added this to your game, you would be so much better ..."

Williams is doing a much better job of running routes and getting off the ball. I think that is giving him the chances he hasn't had, at least as much as the new O is.

[Coachmarkos]

Mike Williams has underperformed for his draft position. There are several WRs drafted below him in 2017 who have been better. But even though he's somewhat of a disappointment, I've always liked him. I've always considered him a stud, and I like his attitude. Maybe it has taken Lombardi/Staley to figure out how to get the most out of him. But so far this season, he is showing why he was drafted at No. 7 overall. I was a little nervous about the decision not to resign before the start of this season. But I think TT has to reach out to his agent now and open negotiations for a new contract. What do you think?

[saipanruss]

Pay the man. He's earning it this year. He's in his prime and has a good rapport with Herbert. We don't want a situation like Green Bay where we piss off our QB or leave our WR shelves bare. We finally have a respectable tandem at WR and we should keep that going...even if it costs us more than we'd like to pay. Mike Williams, from what I can tell is a "team" guy. We finally figured out how to capitalize on his talent which can lead to him being a dominant receiver for years to come. This is an easy decision if you ask me. We have the cap space next year to lock him and Derwin up. Pay the man!

[richpjr]

Not many people know this, but bad Juju is contained in hair follicles. If you ever find yourself in a rut, cut your hair. Parting with his dreads has made the difference for Dub.

Cutting his hair made him more aerodynamic and also lowered his body weight, so he is now faster. It's science.

[CivilBolt]

Not many people know this, but bad Juju is contained in hair follicles. If you ever find yourself in a rut, cut your hair. Parting with his dreads has made the difference for Dub.

I think JH took this ^^^ advice between weeks 10/11 to get away from losing the close games. It took some time to take effect but it worked and got us string of wins

[Bolt Dude]

Not many people know this, but bad Juju is contained in hair follicles. If you ever find yourself in a rut, cut your hair. Parting with his dreads has made the difference for Dub.

[Parcells]

One thing that I’ve really liked out of MW this year compared to previous years is the running after the catch. He had a quick slant against WFT where he caught, pivoted, and ran for 10+ yards. Yesterday I saw more of the same. If he become more dangerous after the catch in addition to the other stuff, he becomes a guy we have to seriously consider paying.

[UglyTruth]

Bullshit he just wasn't getting opportunities with shorter routes that he is now. Most of his targets were more downfield throws but he had a nice crossing route catch and run for a TD last year. In his carer his YPC is 16+ and this year it is 13.4 which was lower before this game but he had a 43 yard catch and run.
It's a different role for him this year and he is stepping up. They kept him for a reason when most everyone here wanted us to trade him.

The point is that he wasn’t getting all that much separation on the downfield throws like the video I posted before this season.

His downfield throws were ones being thrown into heavy traffic. Now he’s actually improved his route running and getting open more.

And yes he is getting more opportunities with shorter routes now too but that wasn’t the point of my post or the video that was posted.

[cmplxgal]

How many replacement WRs did Rivers make look great?

Who cares how good a player is in the abstract, or how well he does/did on another team? What matters is what he does for the Chargers. And, for the Chargers, Tyron was a player last season. I feel confident he would do as well this season. So far, Guyton and Palmer have contributed very little. The Chargers can get away with that so long as Allen and William are balling, but eventually they are going to need a third WR to step up.

[Boltjolt]

MikeWill is a very late bloomer, and was drafted ahead of McCaffrey and Mahomes, who have been better players but may not have been on the need list. His first year was definitely like a red shirt year, and he has underplayed his potential until this season. I still want to see him last for most of the season because if he's on the field he's shown he can be a #1 WR. They don't need to re-sign him right away.

McCaffrey is now an injury prone player after getting overused at his size in 2018 and 2019. His durability was a concern for me drafting him at #7.

McCaffrey had 623 carries his first three seasons along with 303 receptions and the next two seasons combined, counting this year which is still early, but he is hurt again.... He has 111 rushes, 33 catches.

Got the big contract, Been injured ever since playing six games.