During the New York Jets’ ugly 27-21 loss to the Dolphins, returner Isaiah Williams delivered a series of costly miscues.
Opening the second half, Williams fielded a kickoff that was sailing toward the sideline and likely would have gone out of bounds, and gave New York the ball at their own 40. Instead, he brought it back, fumbled, and set up Miami with immediate possession across midfield.
The blunders didn’t end there. In the fourth quarter, Williams called for a fair catch at the Jets’ two-yard line, burying the offense with disastrous field position, instead of letting it bounce into the end zone for a touchback or taking a forward bounce and giving Justin Fields and the offense some breathing room.
“Just stuff that can’t happen,” Williams told reporters regarding his fair catch. “Something that we work on and I know. It’s stuff that I know. Just stuff that I can’t do.”
When asked about the message that head coach Aaron Glenn shared with him after the blunder.
“We can’t have that. We’ve got to be smarter,” he responded.
Williams’ night encapsulated the kind of self-inflicted damage that has killed the Jets throughout their winless start. Special teams is supposed to provide stability, not sink the offense before they take the field.
There is no reason Williams should survive the week on the roster. The Jets don’t need a home-run threat in the return game; they need reliability, a player who will secure the ball, take the safe yards, and avoid back-breaking mistakes.
New York learned that lesson the hard way with Xavier Gipson, whose Week 1 fumble led to his release. Williams followed the same script Monday night, costing his team field position and a key possession to open the second half.
If Glenn is really serious about cleaning up discipline and holding players accountable, Williams should be the next to go.
