Regardless of the injuries that kept him out for much of the past two seasons – and the back injury before the 2023 playoffs thanks to Brandon Staley – Williams earned the “Bolt Fam’s” respect. Selected in 2017 with the 7th overall pick, he played in the inaugural season in LA. Despite a very slow start to his pro career, Philip Rivers trusted him, eventually becoming one of his–and Justin Herbert’s–favorite weapons.

Here are the three main reasons why Chargers fans will miss Mike Williams:

Mike Williams appeared in crucial moments for the Chargers

For some reason, Williams played his best football at Arrowhead (hopefully that’s not a sign of where he’ll play in 2024), one of the toughest games every year.

Fans will always remember the 2018 game where he secured the victory in a memorable two-point conversion: he caught a pass from Rivers alone in the last four seconds of the game and then hurried to celebrate with his teammates. Then, early in the 2021 season, he had 122 yards and caught 2 TDs to catapult the Chargers to another close victory at Kansas City.

Another of Williams’ memorable games was on Sunday Night Football against Pittsburgh in 2021. As is often the case in Bolts games, the Steelers came from a 17-point deficit and took a 3-point lead in the fourth quarter.

With just over two minutes left, he caught a pass from Justin Herbert after a Steelers defensive back got confused in coverage. He then outran another Steelers DB for a 53-yard TD that sealed the Chargers victory.

Mike Williams went from “zero to hero” despite being selected 7th overall

Despite being selected at the top of the 2017 NFL Draft, and coming off of winning the NCAA national championship at Clemson with QB Deshaun Watson, Williams had an atrocious 2017 season. Not only was he injured during training camp and parts of the regular season, but he only caught 11 receptions for 95 yards in ten games played! At that time, many wondered if he was a “bust”.

However, the narrative began to change in 2018. Staying healthy throughout the season, Mike Williams became one of then Chargers QB Rivers’ favorite receivers. Though the Chiefs game was the season’s climax, Williams had a solid year with over 600 receiving yards and 10 TDs. He also became one of Justin Herbert’s favorite weapons. He had a breakout 2021 season, having over 1,100 receiving yards and 9 TDs.

Mike Williams was the contested and spectacular catches king

Williams had inspired “blind faith” in Herbert. Because of his height and physical power, he was able to catch nearly all of the contested catches. Similar to this, Mike makes grabs close to the sidelines appear simple, as evidenced by the 2022 touchdown against the Dolphins.

Another of his iconic receptions happened just a week later against the Tennessee Titans, when he spectacularly caught the ball to set a winning field goal attempt.

Despite his multiple injuries, the Los Angeles Chargers will miss Mike’s skillset. There are few receivers with such an ability to win “50/50” catches.

Williams consistently delivered when it mattered most, even though he was always WR2 behind future Hall of Famer Keenan Allen. Now that the team needs to replenish the wide receiver room, Malik Nabers would be the best choice available with the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft or through free agency. To sum up, I want to sincerely wish Mike the best of luck on his next team and hope he plays as much as possible to perform at his best.