The Jets recently added wide receiver and return specialist Isaiah Williams to their active roster and he has already played in eight games for the team. Today we break Williams down in detail.
The 24-year
old Williams is listed at 5’10” and 185 pounds and was undrafted out of Illinois last April. Williams spent time with the Lions and Bengals before joining the Jets.
Background
Williams was a high school quarterback but struggled to find a college who would take a chance on him as a quarterback because he was considered too short. However, Illinois opted to give him a shot so he went there.
As a freshman, he played in four games. In limited action at the quarterback position, he rushed nine times for 16 yards and completed three of 10 passes for 38 yards and an interception. At the end of the season, he played wide receiver for the first time ever in Illinois’ bowl game and caught three passes for nine yards.
In 2020, Williams saw action in six games, getting a chance to start his first ever game against Rutgers and setting a school record for rushing yards by a quarterback as he racked up 192 yards in a comeback win.
Later in the year, he had another 100-yard rushing performance but he struggled as a passer all year. He ended the season with 393 passing yards and four touchdowns in six games with two interceptions. However, he completed just 41 percent of his passes. He did rush for 389 and a touchdown, though.
Unsurprisingly, Illinois were able to coerce him into making the switch to wide receiver in 2021 and he did well, with 47 catches. He scored six touchdowns, including two on the ground.
Williams made strides in 2022 as he caught 82 passes for 715 yards and five touchdowns to earn an all-Big Ten honorable mention.
In 2023, he had a thousand-yard season as he caught 82 passes again to lead the Big Ten. Williams again had five touchdown catches and added a touchdown pass on a gadget play. He was named an all-Big Ten first teamer and also an honorable mention as a kick returner.
Widely considered a possible day three pick, Williams was not selected in the 2024 draft but signed for the Detroit Lions as an undrafted free agent and made their roster out of training camp. However, he played just two games for them, catching two short passes, and was released in November.
The Bengals claimed Williams off waivers and he played a role for them on special teams for the rest of the 2024 season but was unable to make their roster out of training camp in August. He was briefly re-signed to the Bengals’ practice squad but the Jets poached him after Xavier Gipson’s fumble in the home opener.
Three weeks later, Williams was released, but re-signed to the practice squad and has since been signed to the active roster again.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Williams brings to the table as a player, based on extensive research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Williams was too small for the quarterback position but he’s also pretty small for a wide receiver with short arms and a small catch radius.
His quickness and burst are evident on film but he hurt his draft stock when he only ran a 4.6 in his combine workout. Then, when he tried to improve on his numbers at his pro day, he added five inches to his broad jump but all of the other numbers were the same or worse.
Despite the slow 40 time, Williams’ explosiveness and agility numbers were excellent. He also managed 17 bench press reps, which is solid for his size.
Usage
Having moved to wide receiver, Williams played primarily in the slot, where he lined up over 80 percent of the time in college.
He obviously can line up outside as well and is a useful jet sweep option. With his history as a quarterback, he could also take wildcat snaps or throw the ball on a gadget play, as he did in the Jets’ game in New England.
Deep threat
In regular season and preseason action, Williams hasn’t really had a chance to prove he can be a deep threat, although he did have some decent success on downfield passes in college.
Hands
Despite being quite new to the receiver position, Williams adapted well and has always had efficient pass catching numbers with a 69 percent catch rate in college. The highest number of drops he had was six, in a season where he was targeted 127 times.
However, despite again having a 70 percent catch rate, he has had a couple of drops in preseason action at the NFL level.
He doesn’t have a lot of highlight reel grabs in his film, although he shows an ability to go to ground come up with low throws and showed good focus and concentration on this play.
Routes
Despite only switching to wide receiver a few years ago you can tell that Williams has worked hard at incorporating some of his shiftiness into his route running.
He is effective on crossers, slants and quick out-type patterns and also works in some double-moves and whip-style routes. His releases, balance and footwork look pretty good for someone you might expect to be a novice.
Red zone
Williams had 14 touchdown receptions in his college career, although many of those came from outside the red zone. Here was one of his red zone touchdowns.
He is yet to score an offensive touchdown at the NFL level in regular season or preseason action but could be as much of a threat as a runner as a pass catching option.
After the catch
Williams is extremely effective after the catch, where he led the Big Ten and was 10th in the nation during his final season in college.
He has an innate knack for making the first man miss and getting his momentum going upfield quickly.
He hasn’t had many chances to showcase this at the NFL level but made this nice play in preseason action.
Ball security has been an issue at times, though.
Blocking
Williams will be limited by his lack of size when blocking at the NFL level but he gives a good effort and made this excellent block to set up a touchdown a few weeks ago.
In college, his grades for run blocking were consistently average or below average.
Physicality
Despite a lack of size, Williams makes the effort as a blocker and finishes runs and returns aggressively when he has the ball.
His record on contested catches is pretty poor, although he showed on this play that he can go up and get a jump ball.
Special Teams
Jets fans have already got a taste of Williams’ return abilities. After a few early mistakes, including a fumble, he has really settled down and is gaining in confidence, highlighted by his touchdown return in the win over the Browns. This came after he had already won an AFC special teams player of the week award.
He is more experienced with returning punts than kickoffs, and has quick feet, good balance and slipperiness.
In college, Williams’ first year as a return man was underwhelming but he averaged over 11 yards per punt return in his second year. In preseason action, he averaged almost 13 yards per punt return and 27 per kickoff return.
Instincts and Intelligence
Williams made some mental errors early in his Jets career, the worst of which was when he took a fair catch inside his own five yard line. However, he has good instincts and vision as an open field runner and when finding open areas in zone coverage, perhaps being able to read coverages better than some receivers due to his quarterbacking experience.
He was a three-time academic all-Big Ten selection in college.
Attitude
Williams has shown good character by bouncing back from an inauspicious start with the Jets and his work ethic has been praised by the coaching staff.
In addition, switching positions and learning a new role in a short space of time is not something everyone can do.
Williams was a two-time captain in college and was nominated for numerous awards, did plenty of community work and was a member of some advocacy groups.
On-field discipline wasn’t an issue with two penalties in his college career, although he did talk trash and get into it with defensive backs sometimes.
Injuries
Williams hasn’t missed much time during his career, but was affected by a concussion in 2022 and an abdominal issue last season.
Scheme Fit
To the extent that he has a role on offense, Williams will presumably see most of his action in the slot or in motion. He could see occasional action on jet sweeps even in weeks when he is not in the main rotation.
Clearly, the punt returner role is his for now and he will continue to get occasional kickoff return opportunities, albeit that his main role on these is as an upback and lead blocker for Kene Nwangwu, at least while he’s healthy.
Williams was a teammate of current Jet Tony Adams while in college. He also played with Khalil Herbert and Jay Tufele in Cincinnati.
Conclusions
It seemed like that Williams would just be a return specialist with the Jets and, early on, it felt like he had blown his shot at nailing down that role.
However, he surprisingly found his way into the receiver rotation for the game against Cincinnati and played his part in the Jets’ first win of the year.
The Jets are being rewarded for the patience they showed with Williams. It will be interesting to see if he can retain this role and make more contributions to establish himself as someone the team will definitely want to bring back next year.
