The Los Angeles Chargers released veteran wide receiver Mike Williams, the team announced.
The move saves the Chargers $20 million in cap space, according to Over the Cap, and they are now cap compliant ahead of the new league year, which begins Wednesday at 1 p.m. PT.
The Chargers have agreed to terms on three free agent signings — Gus Edwards, Will Dissly and Alohi Gilman — and they will need to clear around an additional $7.81 million in space to fit those into their cap sheet. That space must be cleared before the contracts are processed. So more moves are on the horizon. Edge rushers Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack and wideout Keenan Allen all have cap hits of $30-plus million for 2024.
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Williams’ release ends a seven-year run with the Chargers. He was originally selected with the No. 7 pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. After a career year in 2021 — 1,146 receiving yards and nine touchdowns — Williams signed a three-year, $60 million extension that, at the time, tied him as the fourth highest-paid receiver in the league.
whole lotta love 🤟 pic.twitter.com/Wz5sXtYwed
— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) March 13, 2024
Williams, it seemed, had turned a corner in his career. Under coach Brandon Staley, offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and receivers coach Chris Beatty, Williams had expanded his route tree. Once almost purely a go-ball and down-the-field threat, Williams was impacting the game over the middle of the field more often on slants and digs and crossers. He had realized the coaching staff’s vision.
And yet Williams’ next two seasons were stunted by injuries. He suffered a high ankle sprain in Week 7 in 2022 and missed all but six snaps of the next five games. He then fractured his back in the season finale in Denver — a meaningless game, as the Chargers had already clinched their playoff seeding — and was forced to sit out the team’s collapse in Jacksonville in the opening round. Williams finished with 895 yards receiving that year.
In 2023, the Chargers tried to expand Williams’ role even further. Under new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, Williams was lining up in the slot more frequently during training camp, and the early returns were encouraging. But the downside to that schematic adjustment was putting an injury-prone player in the most congested area of the field. In the third quarter of a Week 3 win over the Minnesota Vikings, Williams lined up on the inside and caught a screen from Justin Herbert. Williams ran up the hash marks before being tackled awkwardly. The next day, the Chargers announced Williams had torn his ACL. He missed the remainder of the season.
Williams nonetheless will leave a lasting legacy with the Chargers, the only NFL team he has ever played for. He gained respect at all levels of the building, from ownership to the locker room, because of his otherworldly toughness. He played through countless injuries — back, knee, ankle, heel. The season finale against the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021 is perhaps the best example of that, when a limping Williams still caught seven passes for 111 yards in the fourth quarter and overtime, spurring the Chargers in a dramatic comeback.
The other facet of Williams’ Chargers legacy will be his awe-inspiring acrobatic catches, most of them in contested, 50-50 ball situations. Former Chargers quarterback Tyrod Taylor probably described Williams’ proficiency in this phase the best: “It’s more like 70-30 or 80-20.”
After the season, Williams chatted in the locker room for the first time since his injury. He was asked if he wanted to stay with the Chargers. He responded in classic Williams fashion: “Fo’ sho’.”
Instead, he will have the chance to test the open market for the first time in his career.
“I know what I’m capable of doing,” Williams said in January. “I know that I’m going to come back stronger, faster and better after these injuries.”
(Photo: Kohjiro Kinno / Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
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