{"id":976334,"date":"2026-08-18T07:42:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:42:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/976334\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T07:42:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:42:20","slug":"isaiah-williams-continuing-his-unlikely-jets-rise-from-castoff-to-heartbeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/976334\/","title":{"rendered":"Isaiah Williams continuing his unlikely Jets rise from castoff to ‘heartbeat’"},"content":{"rendered":"

He is 5-foot something, 100-and-something pounds.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t start lining up at wide receiver until his third season at Illinois. He went undrafted. Then, less than two months into his second NFL season, he was cut for the third time.<\/p>\n

Isaiah Williams was repeatedly told what the world thought of his dream.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go through all these things, you go through being cut, you go through people telling you you\u2019re not good enough, you\u2019re not this, you\u2019re too small, you\u2019re too slow \u2026 I used to focus so much about what people thought about me and the box they put me in,\u201d Williams said following Monday\u2019s Jets practice. \u201cThere have been some moments in my NFL career \u2014 one being last year \u2014 it hurt a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Oct. 4, the Jets released Williams<\/a> \u2014 who had been signed off the Bengals practice squad less than a month earlier \u2014 after he fumbled a kickoff and called for a fair catch at the 3-yard line during a loss in Miami.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the end of last season, Jets players voted him the team MVP<\/a> after he returned two punts for touchdowns while averaging 14.1 yards per punt return and 30.2 yards per kick return.<\/p>\n

\"JetsJets wide receiver Isaiah Williams (18) practices at training camp. Bill Kostroun\/New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cPlayers like that demand respect and demand reps,\u201d head coach Aaron Glenn said recently. \u201cWhat makes him such a special player is that there are so many things he can do on offense. We\u2019ve got to give him the ball and make sure he\u2019s involved because he\u2019s an explosive player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Williams, 25, is creating more opportunities for himself with a strong training camp, gaining the inside track for the Jets\u2019 No. 3 receiver spot \u2014 ahead of first-round pick Omar Cooper Jr. \u2014 after starting the preseason opener<\/a> against the Buccaneers.<\/p>\n

\"JetsJets wide receiver Isaiah Williams talks to the media after practice. Bill Kostroun\/New York Post<\/p>\n

Last week, Jets wide receivers coach Shawn Jefferson described Williams as \u201ca heartbeat on offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was in a burning building, boop, boop, boop,\u201d Jefferson said while mimicking dialing a phone. \u201c\u2018Hey I need you to come to get me,\u2019 he\u2019s on the way. I literally watched this kid at death\u2019s door<\/a>. And just how he had the mental fortitude to just fight back \u2026 When you\u2019re down, you\u2019re not out. Just keep going, keep pushing.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to his returning duties last season, Williams had 26 catches for 193 yards \u2014 and three carries for 34 yards \u2014 offering optimism that he could make a greater impact with more playing time this season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t matter what anyone says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs guys see that you\u2019re dependable and they can trust you, more is gonna come,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWhatever my role is, I want to be a master at it. And if you do that, all the glory will come.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing around so many teams, I had the opportunity to learn from so many guys. Watching how Garrett [Wilson] operates, being around [Detroit\u2019s Amon-Ra] St. Brown \u2026 Ja\u2019Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, I\u2019ve always been observant. Everything they did, I was just watching. What makes him great? Being around all these top receivers, a lot of them are special, but a lot of them are just consistent \u2026 \u2026 After a while you watch and you learn from other guys, and be like, \u2018OK, I know exactly how to last in this league.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He is 5-foot something, 100-and-something pounds. He didn\u2019t start lining up at wide receiver until his third season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":976335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[7,27091,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,9,8896],"class_list":["post-976334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-jets","tag-football","tag-isaiah-williams","tag-jets","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-jets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkjets","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-training-camp"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117115390862539916","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=976334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/976334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/976335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=976334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=976334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=976334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}