Jaguars have solid free agency option in WR Mike Williams

The Los Angeles Rams raised the Lombardy Trophy after beating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl 56 but it wasn’t without a hitch. Odell Beckham Jr. is believed to have torn his ACL during Championship Sunday and will have to spend the offseason recovering. This is bad news for the 2014 first-round pick, who is slated to hit the open market offseason and will probably need to settle on a one-year deal instead of a multi-year pact. With his availability for the 2022 season in question, the Jacksonville Jaguars need to assess all their options in free agency, including Mike Williams of the Los Angeles Chargers.

Alex Kay of Bleacher Report recently discussed a handful of potential landing spots for Williams in free agency and the Jags popped up in his list. Kay believes that Trevor Lawrence could make a leap in his sophomore campaign now that he has a head coach that actually knows what he’s doing in Doug Pederson. On the other hand, he says that Jacksonville needs to give their young quarterback more weapons and thinks that Williams would be a good addition to their wide receiver corps.

"Adding Williams—a fellow Clemson product like Lawrence—to the mix would do wonders to aid the development of Jacksonville’s 22-year-old signal-caller… Williams may not be the top WR on the open market, but he’s likely the most attainable for this rebuilding franchise. It may cost Jacksonville a premium to lure the Bolts star, but Williams’ scoring ability alone will lift Lawrence and this offense to the next level."

A first-round selection by the Chargers in 2017, Williams has appeared in 72 games with 46 starts and has hauled in 227 receptions for 3,662 yards with 26 touchdowns. He’s logged two 1,000-yard seasons over the last three years and will be one of the top wide receiver options in free agency with Beckham, Chris Godwin, and Michael Gallup sustaining serious injuries over the last two months.

The Jaguars need to decide how to address the wide receiver position.

If the Jaguars don’t mind having to wait for Beckham, Godwin, or Gallup to return from their respective injuries, they should definitely sign one of them. Just keep in mind that it’s uncertain that none of them may be ready for Week 1 of the 2022 season.

If they want instant help and don’t want to use one of their early picks in the 2022 NFL Draft on a wide receiver, Williams becomes one of their best option in free agency. Spotrac expects him to sign a four-year deal worth $66.95 million this offseason. Another alternative is to explore a trade with the Dallas Cowboys for Amari Cooper, or wait for him to be released, which is likely but risky because another team could pull off a trade before he’s cut.

The bottom line is that the Jaguars need to surround Trevor Lawrence with weapons this offseason. Whether they use their vast amount of cap space or a few draft picks, the organization needs to help their young quarterback as much as possible if they want to put him in a position to succeed.