Chargers WR Mike Williams agrees to $60 million contract extension – Press Enterprise

Mike Williams won’t be one of the best wide receivers available when NFL Free Agency opens next week.

The Chargers and Williams agreed to a three-year, $60 million contract extension before the franchise tag deadline on Tuesday, according to multiple reports. Williams will reportedly make $28 million in the first year of the contract and he will be guaranteed $40 million on the new deal. Williams would have made $18.4 million if the Chargers had franchise-tagged him for the upcoming season.

Williams, in his fifth and final year, had a breakthrough 2021 season with his rookie deal. Williams, 27, had career highs with 76 catches and 1,146 receiving yards. The big-body wideout also contributed nine touchdown catches last season and averaged 15.1 yards per reception.

“I’m grateful we drafted him and I’m grateful he’s here,” Chargers general manager Tom Telesco said in January of Williams, who he drafted with the seventh pick overall in the 2017 draft . “We’ll find out the future in the future but he’s been a big part of this football team this year and he’s been in the past too.”

Chargers coach Brandon Staley and his coaching staff have emphasized expanding Williams’ game over the past season. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Williams was used primarily as a downfield target before Staley was named head coach in 2021.

Playing closer to the line of scrimmage, Williams saw a variety of intermediate routes. He continued to do his best work in crunch time, recording 432 yards and seven touchdowns in the fourth quarter of last season.

Despite his handful of injuries and early career struggles on the field, Telesco has often shown support for Williams.

“Obviously his first year with us was really a medical redshirt,” Telesco said of Williams. “I know I’ve said this before, but every time he’s had the opportunity to play for us, he does it. I didn’t see this as a year-long thing with Mike this year. In his sophomore year in the league, he had 10 touchdowns. In his third year he had 1,000 yards and led the league in yards per catch. Then, in the coming year, when we knew he would have more targets and that we would expand where we would use him in the field, and he produced again – a career year in catches and yards. He had a great early career for us.”

Williams usually delivers on the biggest stages, and last year’s Sunday Night Football season finale loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, with the playoffs at stake, was a perfect example of that. Williams was on the receiving end of multiple fourth-down conversions during the Chargers’ late rally and caught the touchdown that sent the game into overtime after regulation time was up.