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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have placed Mike Williams on injured reserve due to a hamstring injury that has been nagging him for weeks, the team announced. Williams hasn't been healthy all season and managed to put up just 22 catches for 216 yards and two touchdowns after being signed to a lucrative $40.25 million contract extension this offseason.
With Williams out the Bucs will turn to Tiquan Underwood and Chris Owusu to fill his role, which will likely be a problem for the rest of the season.The team's downfield passing attack relied heavily on the ability of Mike Williams and Vincent Jackson to consistently win contested catches, and neither Owusu nor Underwood appear to be as skilled as Williams in that area.
The Bucs have struggled to create a consistent passing attack this season, though, whether it be with Josh Freeman or Mike Glennon at the helm, or with Mike Williams and Vincent Jackson on the field or not. Mike Glennon is currently passing for 5.5 yards per attempt, which is worse than every other quarterback with at least 100 attempts aside from Josh Freeman -- who still managed 6.1 yards per attempt when with the Bucs.
It's hard to see how that would get worse without Williams, who hasn't exactly been productive this year anyway.