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Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — Not only did the Steelers land Jets wide receiver Mike Williams in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick, but the team made another deadline-day move in acquiring Packers pass rusher Preston Smith for a 2025 seventh-round selection Tuesday.
In Williams, the Steelers added a complementary player to top wideout George Pickens, who has been a focal point of defenses since the team traded Diontae Johnson to the Panthers for cornerback Donte Jackson in the offseason.
And by trading for Smith, the Steelers bolstered a position group that has dealt with a number of injuries this season with a 10-year veteran who has been a consistent starter for two organizations over the past nine seasons. While pass rusher Alex Highsmith is healthy now, he missed three games with a groin injury, and second-year pass rusher Nick Herbig has been sidelined three games with a hamstring injury. Smith, who has 2.5 sacks and 19 tackles this season, will also help the Steelers’ run defense as the team enters a pivotal stretch of AFC North play.
Though the Steelers’ passing game has improved since Russell Wilson took the starting quarterback reins against Williams’ former team, Pittsburgh still felt it needed another receiver to round out a group that includes Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin III, Scotty Miller and 2024 third-round pick Roman Wilson, who was recently placed on injured reserve with a hamstring injury.
“That when called upon, they’re capable of delivering,” coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday of what he has learned about his wide receiver depth. “And I just think with each passing week, there’ll be more opportunities to display that, particularly as people work schematically to minimize George, it creates one-on-one opportunity for others.
“… I just feel like we have a group that’s hardworking and capable and can’t wait to show the football world those capabilities and every time we step into a stadium, they get an opportunity to do so. And you’ve seen some examples of it already.”
At 6-foot-4, Williams is now the tallest wide receiver on the Steelers’ roster, and his size and jump ball ability make him an important, versatile member of a group that has a host of smaller, speedy players.
The Jets evidently felt Williams was expendable after acquiring Davante Adams from the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 15. However, the Williams trade leaves them thin for a few weeks at wide receiver.
It means Xavier Gipson (four catches for 23 yards) moves into the WR3 role until Allen Lazard returns from injured reserve (eligible in Week 14).
In Week 6, Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers called out Williams for running the wrong route on a target that resulted in a game-clinching interception in a 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills. It’s unusual for a quarterback to criticize a receiver in that manner. The next morning, the Jets traded for Adams, reuniting him with Rodgers, his former QB with the Green Bay Packers.
Not coincidentally, Williams didn’t practice the next two days even though he was healthy. He was a no-show one day; the next day, he was present at practice but worked off to the side in the rehab area. Williams said he didn’t practice because of “personal stuff.” He let the Jets know he was open to a trade, according to a source.
Williams said he wasn’t bothered that Rodgers criticized him publicly, though he indicated the two met one-on-one to discuss it. Williams’ playing time increased the past two games because of Lazard’s injury, but he was all but ignored in the passing game — only two targets and one catch for 6 yards.
“Mike’s a good guy, he’ll be good in that locker room. … He’s had a nice career, and sometimes change of scenery is great for certain guys,” Rodgers said Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “We kind of knew with Davante coming in that there’d be less targets for everybody, because [Garrett Wilson is] leading the league in targets and Tae’s a dynamic player, he’s going to get his targets. If this gives Mike more opportunities, that’s awesome and we wish Mike well.”
The Jets signed Williams to a one-year, $10 million contract, expecting him to emerge as their WR2 once he recovered from ACL surgery. He made it back on time — for the season opener — but he never found a consistent role.
In nine games with the Jets, Williams had only 12 catches for 166 yards and no touchdowns.
Williams, 30, was released by the Los Angeles Chargers in March after seven seasons with them. A first-round pick in 2017, he recorded two 1,000-yard seasons and made 309 receptions for 4,806 yards and 31 touchdowns. He tore an ACL in Week 3 last season.
The departure of Smith, 31, leaves the Packers with just two players age 30 or older: kicker Brandon McManus (33) and linebacker Eric Wilson (30).
This likely would have been Smith’s last season with the Packers given his salary ($13.4 million) for next season.
Smith’s playing time has been reduced of late, playing less than 50% of the defensive snaps in two of the past three games.
It does, however, leave the Packers short on edge rushers unless they can acquire another defensive end. Barring another veteran joining the team, it likely moves Lukas Van Ness into an increased role. They also have Kingsley Enagbare and Arron Mosby, who got his first career sack Sunday.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini and Rob Demovsky contributed to this report.
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