THE New York Jets“The only decision as the trade deadline hit earlier this week was to deal the wide receiver Mike Williams At Pittsburgh Steelers for a draft pick.

To outsiders, the die was cast on which quarterback he led Aaron Rodgers said it was the wrong route in the final minutes of a loss to the Buffalo Bills.

HAS Douglasthings just didn’t work out and there was a clear reason for that.

“Mike, obviously, was recovering from a serious ACL injury and he did everything he could,” he said during a 10-minute stand-up with local media on Wednesday.

Williams hasn’t had much traction with the Jets and this injury is a big reason why.

“Not being part of the OTAs (organized team activities), not being able to be part of the majority of training camp, he just could never really get that in sync,” Douglas said.

At least Douglas was accurate. His interim head coach, Jeff Ulbrichwas about as vague as possible on why and tried much harder to focus on which receivers would get opportunities in his place.

“Whatever the reason, a little bit of us, a little bit of him, a little bit of everything,” Ulbrich said. “But it’s a great opportunity for him to go to Pittsburgh and have the opportunity to hit more targets and be more involved.”

Some thought Williams would be shipped out shortly after what happened in the Bills game.

Towards the end of this match, while the Jets were trying to rally in the fourth quarter, Williams slipped while trying to catch a pass from Rodgers, leading to an interception that ended the game.

Afterward, Rodgers blamed Williams, saying the veteran receiver was supposed to be running a “red line” route, which meant he was several yards from where Rodgers said he was supposed to be .

Williams then missed two practices before the next game for “personal reasons.” He returned late in the week, spoke to the media and said there were no hard feelings between him and Rodgers, who he said contacted him personally during the week to clarify what he had said.

So, New York made this decision after losing veteran wide receiver Allen Lazard to a chest injury two weeks ago. He is currently on injured reserve, but Douglas believes he will be back soon.

For now, Rodgers will rely on Garrett Wilson, Davante Adams, Malachi Corley, Xavier Gipson and Irvin Charles at wide receiver.

New York signed Williams to a one-year, $10 million contract during the offseason. This included a $3.3 million bonus with $8.3 million guaranteed. The hope was that he would become option No. 3. Instead, he finished his career with the Jets with 12 catches for 166 yards.