Isaiah Williams' Week 2 dud shows Omar Cooper Jr. doubts were overblown

The New York Jets lost 20-17 to the Green Bay Packers in Week 2, in a game they should have closed out the 10-point lead they had in the fourth quarter. There were multiple reasons why New York came out with a loss, and receiver Isaiah Williams played a role.

Throughout the summer, Williams was a breakout player who was consistently getting praise, and that fed into doubt around Omar Cooper Jr.

That was an early overreaction, and what Williams did against the Packers proved that and showed that once the rookie is healthy, he will get plenty of playing time.

Isaiah Williams' Week 2 outing proves Jets missed Omar Cooper Jr.

The Jets only suited up four receivers for this game (Williams, Garrett Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, Arian Smith), which forced Williams into action. He logged 61 wide receiver snaps out of 74 and finished with six catches for 34 yards.

Williams also had one carry for 14 yards, but he didn't make much of an impact. He was bad in some areas. He muffed two punts that were thankfully recovered by Qwan'tez Stiggers.

He also had his fair share of trouble as a run blocker. According to Pro Football Focus, Williams was New York's lowest-graded run blocker at 34.6. While Williams has been a nice story and player for the Jets, his outing against the Packers wasn't pretty.

He got an extended line for playing time due to Cooper's ankle injury, which is unfortunate for the rookie. Cooper played in just five snaps in Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans, but he made a serious impact in those snaps.

On the first play from scrimmage, Cooper Jr. had a pancake block in the run game against Titans CB Alontae Taylor. During the same drive, Geno Smith found Cooper on a 3rd and 9, who racked up 30 yards on the play. He broke several tackles in the process and showed his YAC ability that was praised throughout the draft process.

With Cooper on injured reserve with a high-ankle sprain, Williams has been tasked with stepping in, but you can already see the potential the Indiana product brings to the table. At the same time, Williams hasn't been able to make much of an impact in two games (seven catches, 41 yards).

It's not to say that Williams won't improve from this outing and give the Jets more juice, yet his performance shows that the comments around Williams being firmly ahead of Cooper on the depth chart are overblown.

When Cooper is back and healthy, he will certainly have a role in this offense, and that's for the better. He's a rookie, so of course, there will be learning curves. That doesn't mean that he won't be a good player like some made it out to be during the summer.

Williams is a good special teams player, but he's better suited to be a WR4/WR5. While Cooper fights to make his way back, Week 2 proved he will certainly be a factor on this team when healthy.

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