“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” This is the first line of Gabriel García Márquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, where the hero of the story recalls good days in tough times. This perfectly fits the story of former Chargers WR if we just focus on the 2024-25 season to the current time. Jim Harbaugh‘s former WR is back home after tough days in New York and Pittsburgh. And before we dive into his rough path, he has sent a strong message while returning to the Bolts.
“Never wanted to leave on my side, but it’s the business part of football, and things happen. Now I’m back, and happy to be back,” Mike Williams, former WR of the Chargers said after coming back to the team he was drafted to eight years ago. This was a friendly message to the Chargers QB, Justin Herbert. It is definitely turning up the excitement for the upcoming season.
WR Mike Williams excited to return to the Bolts: “Never wanted to leave on my side, but it’s the business part of football and things happen. Now I’m back, and happy to be back.”https://t.co/Ri8r22Jvsh pic.twitter.com/91ZDpdH6Os
— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) March 17, 2025
Since signing his rookie contract worth $19,749,928 for a four-year deal with the Chargers in 2017, Williams played 88 games where his stats read: 309 receptions for 512 targets for 4806 receiving yards and 31 TDs for the team. Looks great, right? Hope he repeats these numbers during his homecoming with the Bolts.
Williams has signed a $6,000,000 deal for one-year with the Chargers after hitting free agency. Looking back to his days with the Jets and Pittsburgh, he had signed a $10,000,000 deal with the Jets that included a signing amount of $3,300,000 and a guaranteed amount of $8,300,000.
But, you know, it was heartbreaking for Williams to sign for the other teams. Just take a quick check at his one year of solitude with the Jets and the Steelers.
Jim Harbaugh’s homecoming WR’s one year of solitude
The Los Angeles Chargers picked Williams in 2017, a time when Jim Harbaugh was busy coaching Michigan’s college football team. From that year on, Mike Williams remained with the Bolts—until the end of the 2023 season. Moreover, he played just three games due to an ACL tear. But how did an injury force his exit?
“It’s not about you, it’s me.” These cheesy breakup lines defined Williams’s departure from the Chargers after the 2023 season. His release was a necessary business decision to save $20 million in their effort to become salary-cap compliant.
The Chargers traded him to the New York Jets for that reason. According to ESPN, “The Chargers cut Williams after seven seasons because his cap charge was an inflated $32.5 million. He was due to make a non-guaranteed $17 million in base salary in the final year of a three-year, $60 million deal.” But the deal didn’t work out.
After the Jets’ deal, he was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers mid-season for the 2025 fifth-round pick in November 2024. When Williams was asked what went wrong with the Jets, he explained, “Going there after the ACL not having OTAs or training camp to get the chemistry right … [Rodgers] is real detailed. He likes what he likes. Me not being able to transition in as quick is probably what went wrong.” His term with the Steelers was even worse. In the 9 games played, he made a mere 9 receptions for 132 yards and 1 touchdown.
So, when he recalled the 2024 season, the whole year was a rollercoaster for Jim Harbaugh’s WR. Williams said, “Last year was terrible for me, for sure I’m just being honest. It was terrible. Probably the worst year I’ve had in the league by far. So I’m just putting it in the past, that was the past, & I’m trying to make it feel like it didn’t happen for me,” while signing with the Los Angeles Chargers. But to remember Mike Williams, I remember a line from Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet’- “What happened, happened.” So, entering into the 2025-26 season, we expect a better performance from the star wide receiver.
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