WR Mike Williams 'excited' by new deal with Los Angeles Chargers
Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams bounded into his own news conference Wednesday in a bright-green sweatshirt with an orange Tigger on the front. He didn't know who Tigger was or the Tigger song, but a friend had given it to him last week and it seemed to fit his circumstance.
"'l'll have to look into it," Williams said of the song that is sung by the Winnie the Pooh character, which features the last line, "I'm the only one."
It can be said that Williams, at 6-foot-4, 218 pounds is the only one on the Chargers who caught 76 passes for 1,146 yards and just agreed to a who agreed to a three-year, $60 million contract, with $40 million guaranteed and $28 million in Year 1. That's not a bad payday for a fifth-round draft pick (seventh overall) in 2017 who was making $15.68 million last season.
The new figure puts him just under teammate Keenen Allen ($20.25 million) and tied him with Amari Cooper -- for the moment anyway -- as the league's fourth-highest paid receiver.
"I'm excited," he said. "It came down to yesterday, got some news a couple days ago numbers, went to some negotiations and we came to an agreement."
The first person he called was his mom, who came out to California with him when he first was drafted.
"Obviously she was crying," he said
"Every offseason I try to improve my game. And I know I did that this year. It was a rough start because of my back injury, which cost him five games," he said. "But I believe in myself and I believe in the people around me."
He gave credit to head coach Brandon Staley and offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi for recognizing his strengths and putting him in a position to increase the variety of his targets and not just be a long-ball guy.
"They wanted me to showcase everything I could do in my game. Short routes, hands in space, make plays with my legs," he said.
"I'm very grateful for that I tell them that all the time," he said. "Without them I probably wouldn't be in the situation I'm in."
