{"id":81362,"date":"2025-12-26T09:56:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T09:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/81362\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T09:56:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T09:56:12","slug":"new-york-jets-weapon-isaiah-williams-is-busting-through-walls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/81362\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Jets weapon Isaiah Williams is busting through walls"},"content":{"rendered":"

When he was first picked up by the New York Jets early in the 2025 regular season, Isaiah Williams was known simply as a special teams returner. This was the case even after he rebounded from his terrible first impression<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After a career year in that position, though, the Jets are looking for new ways to get him the football, and he continues to bust through every available wall.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old was picked up off the Cincinnati Bengals\u2019 practice squad following Week 1. Since then, he\u2019s led the league in punt returns for touchdowns with two and has recorded over 1,200 all-purpose yards. <\/a><\/p>\n

Not bad for a player who struggled so much earlier in the year that he was actually waived by the Jets. <\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 importance to the organization cannot be overlooked. So much so that he\u2019s turned into the type of complementary receiver the Jets have been looking for all year as well. <\/p>\n

The Jets add a new role for Isaiah Williams<\/p>\n

Jets offensive coordinator and play-caller Tanner Engstrand hasn\u2019t had a lot of talent to work with this season. Even still, he has managed to produce a quality game plan that maximizes the potential of the talent available to him.<\/p>\n

In recent weeks, that talent has also included Williams. <\/p>\n

The Illinois product has recorded 102 receiving yards combined in the last three games. That included a 12-yard screen pass in the previous week\u2019s 29-6 loss to the New Orleans Saints. His completion and run set the Jets up for one of their only scoring drives of the ball.<\/p>\n

It also highlighted his skills with the ball in his hands. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s an explosive player,\u201d Engstrand said.<\/a> \u201cHe\u2019s got that quick burst of speed. We had a couple of screens last week that were really nice, and that\u2019s on us, as coaches, to continue to try to put him in those positions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019 2025 campaign has been a roller coaster. He didn\u2019t really have a role in Cincinnati and was released by the Jets after a dismal showing in Miami in Week 4. Still, he bounced back and has become an integral part of the organization\u2019s long-term future.<\/p>\n

And not just as a returner either. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been pretty cool just to continue to see his maturation and his growth as a receiver, learning to play that slot,\u201d Engstrand said. \u201cWe all know he\u2019s not a huge person in stature, but the level of physicality and detail that he plays with, I think that\u2019s what shows up on tape on the offensive side of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no guarantee the Jets will continue to use Williams in the offensive game plan in 2026. As a returner, though, he remains a key part in how the team believes they can end their rebuild. <\/p>\n

Having him perform admirably on offense is just a welcome added bonus. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When he was first picked up by the New York Jets early in the 2025 regular season, Isaiah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7013,30704,9,11,430,10,22,13589,38486,12125,7016,12126,7018,7019],"class_list":{"0":"post-81362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-free-content","9":"tag-isaiah-williams","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-headlines","12":"tag-new-york-jets","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-ny-jets-coaches","16":"tag-ny-jets-column","17":"tag-ny-jets-news","18":"tag-ny-jets-players","19":"tag-ny-jets-roster-depth-chart","20":"tag-standard","21":"tag-tanner-engstrand"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}