New York Jets Player Previews: Mike Williams & CJ Mosley

hello welcome to another episode of in the trenches with Gang Green I'm your host Bobs today we have another episode of the New York Jets player previews as we will take a look at two more New York Jets one on offense and the other coming on defense this is the Monday Edition and the 13th installment of the 2024 New York Jets player previews here on the podcast before we begin let me tell you about our podcast Partners starting with our friends over at seek seek is an app that delivers tickets from all over the Internet and puts them into one spot to make it easier for you the buyer what makes seek so great is they rate each ticket on a scale from 1 to 10 so you know what type of deal you are getting on your ticket look for the green dots in the seating chart green means good those are the good deals those are the tickets you want to purchase plus my viewers use promo code bubs on Sports for $20 off your first purchase click the SeatGeek Link in the description down below that'll take 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Aaron Rogers rocks all the time and use promo code bubs at checkout for 15% off all right now let's get into today's New York Jets player previews we will take a look at two more New York Jets Mike Williams wide receiver on offense and then we will take a look at linebacker CJ Mosley on defense so really exciting episode here today on the podcast we will start on the offensive side of the football as we always do and we will start with Mike Williams wide receiver 64 218 pounds he is 29 years old entering his age 29 and age 30 season uh 2017 first round pick seventh overall and he was out of Clemson and has spent all seven of his NFL years or all SE all first the first seven of his years in the NFL have all been in Los Angeles with the Chargers 88 career games played dating back to his rookie season in 2017 so a veteran wide out here for the New York Jets the Jets signed them on a one-year deal worth up to 15 million 10 million base salary with a $3.3 million signing bonus 8.3 million uh dollar fully guaranteed and then five million in incentives and in total of course that is worth up to 15 million so after spending the first seven years of his NFL career after being selected in the first round seventh overall from Clemson uh it'll be the first time in Mike Williams career that he spends a season away from Los Angeles here on a one-year deal to fit the New York Jets Allin window we know how this deal went down of course the Taylor ham egg and cheese whatever pork egg and cheese whatever you want to call it whatever side of the aisle of the debate you are on tayloran pork either way the sandwich sent by Jets Twitter Legend nyj Matt to the facility uh you saw Mike Williams eating the sandwich all that great stuff ends up signing after uh the visit the Jets didn't even let him leave the building that day visited with the Jets had some other visits scheduled uh the rest of the week I think he was supposed to visit with the Panthers and a couple other teams the sandwich and the New York Jets of course gave him a good enough deal good enough offer where he didn't even leave the building he signed with the New York Jets and just got activated off the pup list about a week and a half ago now and you got to be fired up if you're a New York Jets fan for Mike Williams this is a guy that one of the guys that I'm most looking forward to seeing to take in the field this year for the New York Jets I mean you know we talk about last year the way the New York Jets receiving core was constructed in the disappointing season from alen Lazar you had uh you know the rookies and Xavier Gibson and of course uh Jason brownley try and play a role but they were learning they were rookies they were still unproven they weren't anything special uh and of course Randle Cobb didn't provide anything at all um of course mcole you had the whole mcole Hardman incident so my the point I'm getting to is G Wilson had no help around him not only did he not have a quarterback uh didn't have a very good offensive coordinator uh he also had no help around him from a receiving perspective he didn't have a legitimate number two guy next to him it was supposed to be Alan Lazar but that of course blew up in the Jets face last year so Mike Williams comes in as the perfect perfect compliment to G Wilson and you look at this Jets receiving core we've already discussed Malachi Corley in a previous episode here we'll discuss G Wilson here very soon in the coming days but it's a perfect receiving room they all complement each other perfectly you have Garrett Wilson your Do-it all guy your finesse guy your legitimate number one option then you have Mike Williams who is your physical one-on-one contested catch guy and then you have Malachi Corley who is your underneath speed guy kind of Gadget player in a way which which has coined him the nickname during his time in Western Kentucky and coming to the draft as Debo Samuel 2.0 because he can do a little bit of everything and of course the yak King and all that great stuff and that's what I'm most excited for with Mike Williams is his contested catch ability it fits Aaron roders it fits Aaron rogers's ability so so well because Mike Williams contested catch 5050 guy but is that kind of 7030 8020 guy can go up get the jump ball Red Zone in the end zone just a physical physical piece that this Jet's offense was lacking over the last couple Seasons especially lacking of course around uh Garrett Wilson and when you dive into some of the numbers they're just extremely extremely impressive when you look at Mike Williams and I get he's coming off the Tor ACL we'll get to the injury stuff here soon but some of his numbers are just so so impressive even in the three games that he played last year before he tore his ACL he had a very successful season going for him in just three games played last year he had 19 receptions on 26 targets for 249 yards 13.1 yards per reception and a touchdown he was on his way to putting together a massive massive season his last game of the season when he tore his ACL saw him re catch seven passes for 121 yards and eight targets and a touchdown in that game he averaged 17.3 yards per reception that game unfortunately season came to an end if he never got hurt last year this would have been a guy that probably would have been on his way to his third 1,000 yard season in his career he's had two previous 10,000 yard seasons 2019 he had a th000 yards and then in 2021 he also saw over a, yards in fact he had over 1100 yards that year which was his best season of his career both from a reception standpoint and a yard standpoint but some of these other numbers I mean some of the more advanced numbers are very very impressive since 2018 Mike Williams has averaged 15.8 yards per catch which is first among wide receivers during that time he has gone 15 straight games which is around 100 15 targets without a drop and has only had one drop in his last 23 games and that is on 160 targets so you talk about what the Jets struggled with last year drops Alan Lazar drops got benched for it Mike Williams the complete opposite of that this is a guy that doesn't suffer any drops has only had one in his last 23 games now the real stuff comes into play when you look at his contested catch numbers he averages one .28 contested catches per game which is first among receivers since 2021 he's had 41 re uh contested catches in 32 games and in 2022 his last season where he played you know 13 games you know was healthy for the majority of the Year prior to the tourn ACL last year he had a 57% contested catch rate which was 11th best among wide receivers so easily statistic basally and you watch him play easily a top 10 top 15 top seven even in some cases top five contested catch wide receiver and you also look at the way he pairs now with Aaron Rogers you look at um Mike williams' routy and this is what I think has to get you really really excited if you're a New York Jets fan because the connection at him and Aaron Rogers will be able to build when you look at Mike Williams's route tree and his route type and the percentage of routes that he runs you look at what he did in 2022 and 2023 he ran go routes 31.1% of the time the NFL average is 22.8% so Mike Williams ran go routes 88.3% more than any other receiver in the NFL or 88.3% more than the NFL average when you look at that compared to Aaron Rogers in his go route statistic Aaron Rodgers has ranked fifth in attempts with 186 and second in yards 2,186 on go routes from 2020 to 2022 so Aaron Rogers has success with go routes and Mike Williams runs go routes at a above 30% clip since 2022 which is 8% over the NFL average of 22.8 so the connection's already there Rogers is a go route guy throws a ton of go routes 186 attempts over 2020 to 2022 had over 2,000 yards on go routes and of course Mike Williams is a guy that runs a lot of go routes so you could already see those two guys being able to connect on a lot of those and that's just what makes I think this signing and just Mike Williams in general very very exciting you also look at some of his other numbers he's had 100 plus yards in 28% of his game since 202 which ranks 10th best among wide receivers 9 100 plus yard games of a possible 32 there since 2021 so just a really really underrated player and I think too why Jets fans should like this signing and should be confident in the signing is every single one of Mike Williams's career years or one of every single one of his Seven Seasons I should say has been behind has been the number two behind Keenan Al you know he walked in yes he was a first round pick yes he was seventh overall out of Clemson but he essentially walked in as the number two receiver and he was the perfect compliment to Keenan Allen so you know my point here is you fully trust this guy to be a number two behind what should be one of the better receivers in the NFL in Garrett Wilson because you saw what he was able to do alongside Keenan Al and kind of what that duo of Keenan Al and Mike Williams wge which was one of the better Duos in the NFL over the last you know five seven years ever since Keenan Allen entered the league really I would say since 2019 really over the last five years because the first two years of Keenan Allen's career he didn't really break out a ton even though he had a career high in touchdowns in with 10 in 2018 it wasn't until 2019 where you really saw the yards you really saw the you know the the receptions take a big jump but what he was able to do all those years with Keenan Allen you know you have to expect the same thing even though he'll be entering his age3 se you know he'll be 30 in October even though he's coming off with Tor ACL you still have to expect that same thing alongside Garrett Wilson and I think that's what is another piece That's so exciting is what he was able to do is alongside Keenan Allen ideally he just carries that right over here with the Jets and probably with we're being honest here better quarterback play Hall of Famer yes he got the chance of course to play Rivers I get all that yes Justin Herbert was very good but Aaron Rogers is a Hall of Famer a little bit different there so uh another number I want to get to because this is one thing if there was a knock on Mike Williams it would be some of his inconsistency he has been very inconsistent throughout his career and you look at his last two seasons where he played most of the games not including last year which was pretty much a lost year only three games played 2021 he had six games with 90 plus yards however he had five games with under 40 yards you go to 2022 he had five games with 90 plus yards however five games with under 35 yards so you look at 2021 and 2022 he had 11 games where he saw over 90 yards receiving but then there was also 10 games where he saw under 40 yards five of those under 35 so that is a little that is the one knock on Mike Williams is he's inconsistent there will be weeks where he'll go out there and I know this as a Mike Williams fantasy owner that's the one knock on Mike Williams as a fantasy receiver he'll go out there one week put up 27 30 fantasy points in a PPR league and then next week go out there and put up three but that's the that's the truth this is a guy that will go out there and put up 10 catches for 120 yards 130 yards and a touchdown and in the next week have two catches for 13 yards on four targets and be a nonf factor so that's just the way he is there's going to be weeks where he's just just not going to be much of a factor but then there's also going to be weeks where he's going to have eight nine receptions and over a 100 yards and finding the end zone and all that great stuff so that's the one knock on Mike Williams is the inconsistency has had 11 games from 2021 to 2022 where he saw over 90 yards but also had 10 games where he saw under 40 so there will be some inconsistency there that's just the way he is that's always how he's been since he's entered the league now of course a lot of people and this is we all close things out and we'll head to CJ Mosley I know this a little bit of a longer player preview Mike Williams but I'm super fired up and I wanted to get into a lot of his numbers because they're they're really really interesting and it's it's really exciting when you break down some of these different analytics but um and a lot of people look at Mike Williams as injury-prone and I don't want to come across biased or too optimistic but I don't really view Mike Williams I think Mike Williams gets a lot more the injury-prone label thrown on him a little bit uh harshly if that makes sense I mean I understand last year of course was a lost year can't deny it Torres ACL three games obviously but prior to that you go back to 2018 right his rookie year he only played 10 games but you go back to 2018 up until 2022 these were his games played per year 16 15 15 16 13 that's not really a guy that's super super injury-prone I mean 2018 he played all 16 games every game 2019 2020 only missed one game 2021 only missed one game when they went to the 17 game schedule and 2022 played 13 games if you get 13 to 15 games out of Mike Williams this year I think you're definitely satisfied with that if you're a Jets fan but this notion that Mike Williams is super super injury-prone I never really fully got because you look at that stretch from 2018 to 2022 he was primarily playing he was averaging 15 games played per year you know so people put the label on Mike Williams as if he's this guy that's plays nine games and in eight games 12 games seven games five games like no he he could play a full season he's done it before he can go an entire season where he only misses a week now is he going to pop up on injury a lot is he going to be on the injury report maybe 12 13 weeks out of a season yeah it's certainly possible but he'll play through it that's always been the case with him he'll play he plays through a lot and he's going to pop up in the injury report not he's goingon to miss time but he's you know he'll pop up on it so that's the closing thing there on Mike Williams of course coming off a torn ACL you always have some concerns but you know this isn't like this is a guy that's 36 years old and he's this is his third torn ACL or something and you've already started to see a decline I I I think he'll be all right I mean we saw what Bree Hall was last year I know he's younger but Bree Hall looked fine I think you have to trust that Mike Williams can come back and bounce back in a very very strong way this season coming off the Tor ACL for the Jets so very exciting to see what Mike Williams can do for the New York Jets this season alongside Garrett Wilson Now we move on here to the defensive side of the football and we go to linebacker CJ Mosley 62 231 pounds 32 years old 2014 first round pick 17th overall by the Baltimore Ravens out of Alabama he spent the first five years of his career with the Baltimore Ravens and then of course signed with the Jets in the off season of 2019 where he has spent four years playing although he's been with the Jets for five of course he sat out the co season so in toal has been in the NFL for 10 years has played in nine of the 10 seasons and he technically uh enters his 11th NFL season but his 10th actually playing as he of course sat out the co year and man what a career uh jet career I would say CJ mosy has had you know this is a guy that at first it didn't look great you know came onto the Jets signed a huge huge contract in 2019 of course the same off season that the New York Jets acquire Le'Veon Bell and only played in two games the groin injury forced him to miss the rest of the year had the surgery missed all of 2019 after just playing in two games and in 2020 comes around and he sits out due to co and you're starting to wonder as a Jets fan okay in two seasons with the team he played essentially two games of a possible 30 in his first two seasons with the Jets so missed pretty much 28 games with sitting out with Co of course his decision and then of course only playing two games his first year and you're giving him a ton of money and as a Jet fan you're thinking man this this doesn't look great you know him and Le'Veon Bell are going to be kind of put in the same category for a very long time it's you're going to look back at an offseason remember all the money they spent and how it didn't pan out and in fast forward to 2021 new regime with Robert Salah CJ Mosley comes back and he's been awesome Mosley has quickly turned into one of my favorite New York Jets legitimately and it not only with his play on his on the field but also his locker room presence his leadership I mean this is a guy that took a massive massive pay cut just back in May to help this team win now and in the future restructured his contract it was twoyear restructured it to a 2-year 17.2 $5 million deal which helped the Jets clear up 14.2 million in cap space he was originally set to make a base salary of 17 million so put his own contract aside put himself aside went for the team route team first took the contract restructure freed up $4.2 million for the Jets and cap space and I think that just shows some of the leadership it shows his team first mentality he's been excellent in the locker room after what looked like At first a very very poor contract for the Jets has turned out to be quite the addition um uh and he's been very durable very very durable he has played 50 of a possible 51 games in the last three seasons played 16 in 2021 only missed one game and has played all 34 the last two seasons 17 in 2022 and 17 in 2023 and it's played at a very high level and I know the age is up there of course he's 32 years old I get that but I I he's still playing at a very high level he is still a top 10 top seven linebacker in the NFL and he has been a big reason why Quincy Williams is where he is and he has transformed into the linebacker that he's turned into is a lot of it's CJ Mosley's leadership and him kind of helping him through his early Parts with the Jets and now he's of course an all pro at linebacker and Mosley and Quincy Williams have turned into one of the best one-w punches the best linebacker unit in my eyes in the NFL so love what the Jets have gone out of Mosley and I think you've got to be excited again for what they can get out of him again this year just an excellent leader great football mind leader on the defense anchor on the defense and the numbers back it up as well not only do the eye test but the numbers back it up as well he's ranked top 10 in tackles in each of the past three seasons including fourth in 2021 so it was top five in tackles in 2021 some of the other numbers top three highest tackles in a season have all come with the Jets and that's something too it feels like part of this Mosley has actually actually gotten better with ag you know some of his best seasons in his in in his career have come with the Jets here since he's hit age 30 so he's actually gotten better with age which I think is really positive if you're a Jets fan and that's why I don't really buy into the whole notion of oh he's slowing down or oh he's only got a couple years left I I get that but he hasn't really shown many signs of slowing down I mean this is a guy last year that put up 100 51 tackles he finished top 10 in the NFL in tackles um if he was slowing down tackles wouldn't be there you'd probably see some durability issues I don't see that yet he's had 477 tackles in the last three seasons with the Jets not once in his five years with Baltimore that he hit 150 plus tackles he has hit 150 plus tackles in three straight Seasons which is just fifth player in the NFL over the last 24 years to have 150 plus tackles in three straight Seasons so it's put together Seasons that not many have put together over the last two decades which is another really really impressive piece he also had 60 tackles resulting in a defensive stop um was tied for fifth among linebackers and force fumbles both in 2021 and 2023 with two in each of those seasons so has shown the ability to punch the ball out get the ball on the turf and then had an 82.9 PFF grade as well last year in 2023 I me there's been some so many impressive moments from CJ Mosley when it comes to his just football smarts his recognition as the Mike linebacker where Salah has given him the kind of keys to the defense in a way where if he sees something similar to Aaron Rogers on the offense where if he sees something he's going to audible Mosley there's been a couple times where he sees something defensively audibles and then it'll work out and he'll make a play or somebody else will make a play and and something along those lines so just his leadership and his veteran presence on the field has also been noticed that's another part that doesn't show up in the stat sheet that you don't always see but it's such a crucial crucial part mosy has been awesome he's been awesome great in the locker room and and I'll be honest I don't really know if Quincy Williams like I said a little bit ago is the player he is now if it wasn't for quinc uh CJ Mosley I mean let's be honest here he's learning from one of the better linebackers in the NFL learning from a guy with all this experience if you take Mosley off of this team I don't know if Quincy Williams is the player he is Mosley's also one of those guys that can make guys around him better so seven passes defended as well last year we talked about uh the two Force fumbles he also had five tackles for loss um has had 12 tackles for loss the last three seasons he's had seven quarterback hits so just impressive numbers impressive player impressive human being so many so many great attributes I think you can you can put with Mosley and I think just with not the cherry on top but just showed you what type of guy he is and what he has been for the Jets is taking that contract restructure this offseason to help clear up $ 14.2 million in cap space uh over a two-year 17.25 million deal to help the Jets and and spend that money elsewhere so just I think you've got a level you've see and entering his fifth year playing wise with the Jets sixth overall and and I get the agent he's 32 but I you know sure is he maybe starting to you know is he starting to probably decline a little bit yeah that's natural but I don't think you've really seen it yet at all really I don't think you've seen much of a a major decline still playing playing at a high level still putting up 150 plus tackles until he doesn't do that I'm not going to be I'm not going to be like oh this guy's washed this guy's declining like to me he he looks as good as he's been the last three seasons and he he put up some best some of the best seasons of his career since he's hit age 30 and I think most people would agree with that now the one thing about Mosley his coverage could use a little to help not not an excellent in coverage um I feel like it sometimes is kind of 5050 in coverage there's moments where he does good things in coverage and there's moments that kind of make you scratch your head but something else with mosy that I would like to see more of this year he I I want him to I want to see him come down with a couple more interceptions there have been a a good a good amount of times over the last couple Seasons especially last year specifically and this isn't just mosy this is kind of the Jets defense as a whole they don't they don't get many interceptions that's what kind of makes Ashton Davis a little bit of a special piece to have a nice piece to have is he's just kind of a ball magnet the Jets at times struggle to turn the ball over on defense they struggle to force turnover sometimes they struggle to hold on interceptions not just Mosley but there was times Mosley only had one interception last year or two intercept no one interception rather and I know interceptions aren't the end all Beall especially with everything else he does and he's never been a big interception guy that's not not really what linebackers are but he could have had last year legitimately four to probably six interceptions if he would have held on to a couple I mean there was at least two that I could probably remember he had one in the Chiefs game now he did have an interception in the Chiefs game uh after he dropped the pick he dropped the pick in the Chiefs game I think if I remember he might have dropped one as well in the Chargers game there was at least two three drops last year might have been one in the maybe one in the Browns game too where it hits his hands and he just drops it he could have had probably four picks at last year at least or he was in the area of balls that he could have gotten there was a couple of them that actually hit his hands right on so that's one thing that if there was one thing that I wish TJ mosy could be a little bit stronger with it would be hauling in and catching interceptions but other than that he's been an awesome awesome piece um and again when you have it's not his job all the time it's not a linebacker's job to pick up six interceptions in a season but when they come right to your hands you would like to see them sometimes haul them in but either way mosy has been great uh tackle numbers we just you know we mentioned all the tackling 150 Plus in the last three seasons uh you know you look at of course the the contract restructured his durability he's been excellent and he's been getting better with age in my eyes so really really really excited to see what he can do again this year here as he enters his 11th season in the NFL 10th playing so wild he's been in league for very long time and continues that this year with the New York Jets so that'll do it for the episode of New York Jets player previews Mike Williams and CJ mosy let me know what you think in the comments section down below both of these players what are your expectations we will have the 14th installment of the New York Jets player previews on Wednesday so stay tuned for that and until next time as always JS Jets Jets jetss