The New York Jets received some great news on Wednesday, August 7.

Gang Green announced on social media that they have activated veteran wide receiver Mike Williams off of the PUP [physically unable to perform] list, “after he passed his physical.”

Williams was released by the Los Angeles Chargers on March 13. He joined the Jets on a one-year deal for $10 million six days later on March 19.

Williams Is Recovering Even Faster Than Originally Thought

On Tuesday, August 6 head coach Robert Saleh said “We’ll see” when asked for an update on when Williams would return.

“I know he’s got a couple of doctor visits coming up but right now he’s just progressing,” Saleh explained to the media. When media members followed up with additional questions, Saleh reiterated that Williams was on the Breece Hall return timeline.

Last year the Jets didn’t activate Hall off of the PUP list until August 15. Williams was just activated off of the PUP list on August 7.

A few weeks ago, Aaron Rodgers dropped a little nugget when he was speaking with the local media when he said that Williams was, “ahead of schedule in his rehab”, according to Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic. Rodgers provided that update on July 24.

It appears Dr. Rodgers was correct in his assessment with Williams returning more than a week ahead of Hall’s return to task last offseason.

Massive News for the Jets Ahead of the 2024 Season

One of the top tasks for general manager Joe Douglas this offseason was to find a Robin to Garrett Wilson’s Batman.

Too often this past season, opposing defenses could put all of their focus on stopping/containing Wilson because they didn’t have any other wide receiver that they had to worry about.

That is no longer the case in 2024.

Williams, 29, has proven to be a dynamic playmaker during his time at the NFL level. Since entering the league in 2017, Williams has racked up 309 receptions for 4,806 receiving yards and has scored 31 touchdowns.

The former Clemson product is a big play weapon. Williams’ career of 15.6 average yards per reception speaks to that.

However, Williams has been dealing with injuries which has kept him off of the field. Due to those issues, he has never started a full campaign in his career.

Most recently he tore his ACL during the Week 3 matchup versus the Minnesota Vikings this past season.

Every ACL recovery is its own beast. They should be taken on a case-by-case basis. Just because one player recovers very quickly from an ACL injury doesn’t necessarily guarantee another player will do the same.

There are a variety of variables at play including but not limited to if any other ligaments were damaged or the possibility of meniscus issues which could complicate the recovery timeline.

However, it is outstanding news that Williams is already being activated off of the PUP list more than a month out from the 2024 season opener. New York is still going to be extremely cautious with Williams’ continued rehab and recovery, but they will now be able to ramp him up over the coming weeks.