{"id":3186,"date":"2025-07-18T13:13:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-18T13:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/3186\/"},"modified":"2025-07-18T13:13:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T13:13:08","slug":"former-top-10-draft-pick-shocks-nfl-with-sudden-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/3186\/","title":{"rendered":"Former top-10 draft pick shocks NFL with sudden retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 season was supposed to mark Mike Williams<\/a>\u2019 triumphant return to the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>. Apparently, the star wide receiver had different plans.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Williams shocked the NFL<\/a> (and reportedly the Chargers) by informing the team that he was retiring<\/a> after eight seasons in the league.<\/p>\n

According to ESPN<\/a>, the 30-year-old\u2019s decision \u201ccame as a shock\u201d to the Chargers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a tough situation,\u201d quarterback Justin Herbert said, via the AP. \u201cFootball, at the end of the day, is a game and there\u2019s more to life than just football and I\u2019m just hoping for the best for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drafted No. 7 overall out of Clemson in 2017, Williams developed into a productive outside receiver in L.A., posting a pair of 1,000-yard seasons and leading the league with 20.4 yards per reception in 2019.<\/p>\n

In March of 2024, the Chargers cut Williams<\/a> to help get under the salary cap. The receiver then signed a one-year deal worth up to $15 million<\/a> with the New York Jets.<\/p>\n

It proved to be a disastrous move. Williams caught 12 passes over nine games before being traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Williams didn\u2019t find much more success in Pittsburgh either, catching nine passes in nine games.<\/p>\n

A free agent in 2025, Williams signed with the Chargers back in March on a $6 million deal. The team placed him on the PUP list earlier this week, just days before the receiver informed the team that he was walking away from football.<\/p>\n

Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 season was supposed to mark Mike Williams\u2019 triumphant return to the Los Angeles Chargers. Apparently, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-3186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}