The same familiar blue and gold thunderbolt greeted Mike Williams as he drove through the welcoming Southern California streets. But a modern facade of a new practice facility gave the receiver a sure sign that these Chargers are not the ones he left.
With coach Jim Harbaugh, the team that was a perennial afterthought is now trying to solidify itself as a playoff contender, and Williams is here to help finish the mission.
“Everywhere he’s been, he’s been a winner,” Williams said Friday of Harbaugh, as the receiver who spent his first seven seasons with the Chargers was reintroduced. “He came here, went to the playoffs in the first season. That’s the goal, is to build off that. The main goal is to win a Super Bowl and I think we’re working towards it.”
Williams is coming off a year that was, in his own words, “terrible.” He couldn’t help but laugh at it: His 298 yards on 21 catches for the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers were his lowest totals for a season in which he played more than three games since his rookie year.
The 30-year-old never wanted to leave the Chargers last year, but understood that his release was a necessary business decision to get the team under the salary cap. After a brief interruption, Williams is ready to pick up where he left off.
“Just get back to what I’m used to doing and having fun, that’s my main thing,” said Williams, who has caught 309 passes for 4,806 yards and 31 touchdowns in his Chargers career. “This is where it all started and I’m excited to be back.”
The familiarity should be a boon for Williams, who signed a one-year deal worth up to $6 million, according to Fox Sports. Part of what contributed to his struggles last year, he said, was working with an unfamiliar training staff while coming off the torn anterior cruciate ligament he suffered in Week 3 of 2023. He missed all of the offseason program with the Jets, missing valuable reps to gain chemistry with quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
While Williams said he valued the opportunity to learn from Rodgers in New York and Russell Wilson in Pittsburgh, he noted that the 41-year-old Rodgers already had developed trust in certain teammates and wanted them in specific roles. Because Williams was present for Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert’s first season, they have a similar natural chemistry, the receiver said.
“He just puts the ball up,” the 6-foot-4 Williams said, “and I go get it.”
Herbert was quick to celebrate his teammate’s return, posting a photo on his Instagram story Wednesday of the pair celebrating in the end zone. Both players were jumping in the air while butting helmets.
“Welcome back Mike Dub!” Herbert wrote.
Bolstering the offense around Herbert has been a key focus for the Chargers’ offseason as the team signed former Pittsburgh running back Najee Harris. While Williams and Harris arrived, other receivers shuffled out. Joshua Palmer signed with the Buffalo Bills this week, and Simi Fehoko went to the Arizona Cardinals, the team announced Friday.
Harris already was familiar with Harbaugh before entering free agency for the first time. Harris was once a prized recruit out of Antioch High, rushing for 2,776 yards as a senior, and at one point he looked up during a game to see Harbaugh on the microphone trying to get the homecoming queen to join his recruiting pitch.
Now back in his home state and with the coach who finished as the runner-up in his high school recruiting sweepstakes — he went to Alabama instead of Michigan — Harris said the opportunity with the Chargers was like coming “full circle.”
Harris watched Harbaugh’s impact with the San Francisco 49ers while growing up and quickly knew he could thrive under the coach’s tutelage.
“The identity is obviously to play hard-nosed football,” said Harris, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in each of his first four seasons. “Harbaugh, him being with the Niners and Michigan, you can kind of see his style of game. Obviously running the ball, but obviously building around the quarterback too.”
Behind Herbert, the Chargers re-signed veteran quarterback Taylor Heinicke on Thursday. The 31-year-old will return on a one-year deal, according to reports, after he snagged the backup role from incumbent Easton Stick, who’s also a free agent.
On defense, lineman Morgan Fox signed a two-year deal with the Atlanta Falcons, according to NFL media. The 30-year-old Fox has been a consistent contributor for the Chargers in the last three years, notching 27 tackles and 3½ sacks in 2024. The Chargers, who also lost nose tackle Poona Ford in free agency, started the defensive line reload by signing defensive tackles Da’Shawn Hand and Naquan Jones.
Del’Shawn Phillips is the newest addition to the linebacker group, the Chargers bringing in a key special teamer to a unit that lost Nick Niemann to Houston in free agency. Phillips had 16 tackles on defense last year and played 409 snaps on special teams for the Texans. Phillips signed a one-year deal, NFL media reported, joining a linebacker group that will return Daiyan Henley, Denzel Perryman, Troy Dye and Junior Colson.