The Jets moved another veteran Sunday night.
The group consented to exchange linebacker Avery Williamson to the Steelers, a source affirmed. The Jets procured Pittsburgh’s 2022 fifth-round pick in return for Williamson and the Jets’ 2022 seventh-round pick.
Williamson joins Steve McLendon and Jordan Willis as veterans Jets head supervisor Joe Douglas has exchanged for future picks as of late. At 0-8, the Jets are going no place and Douglas is happy to move anybody he doesn’t see as a feature of things to come. The NFL exchange cutoff time is Tuesday at 4 p.m.
The 28-year-old Williamson drove the Jets in handles in Sunday’s misfortune to the Chiefs with nine. He had a capture and three passes defensed in six games this season. Williamson marked a three-year, $22.5 million arrangement with the Jets in 2018. They renegotiated his 2020 compensation before the season to $3.5 million this year.
Williamson had 120 handles, three sacks and two constrained bumbles in his first season with the Jets in 2018. At that point, he tore the ACL in his correct knee in a preseason game and missed the whole 2019 season.
He restored for the current year in instructional course yet protective organizer Gregg Williams appeared to be hesitant to play him, at first naming Blake Cashman as the starter over Williamson. After Cashman was harmed and Williamson recouped from a hamstring injury, Williamson recaptured his beginning spot in Week 3 and had remained there.
Presently, Williamson goes from the 0-8 Jets to the 7-0 Steelers. The Jets will go to Cashman, who is recouping from a hamstring injury, and Patrick Onwuasor, who is returning from a knee injury endured in instructional course, to fill Williamson’s function on the guard.