Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams, who is dealing with a back injury, is officially listed as questionable for Saturday's Super Wild Card Weekend game.
Williams has gone the entire week without practicing, which puts his availability in some real doubt. The Chargers will have a Friday walkthrough prior to the game, but the team says it will give Williams up until just prior to game time to determine if he'll be available.
Earlier in the week, Chargers head coach Bradon Staley said Williams would be at practice "at some point this week."
Williams has had chronic back issues for years, but the Chargers head coach didn't shy away from playing Williams and other key veterans in a Week 18 game against the Broncos that would not have changed Los Angeles' playoff seeding, regardless of what the outcome had been.
Just prior to the two-minute warning, Williams left the game with what was feared to be a serious back injury. He was carted to the locker room and was ruled out at halftime. Williams caught four passes for 32 yards in the game before leaving.
But even after Williams' injury, other key veterans such as quarterback Justin Herbert and wide receiver Keenan Allen stayed in the game.
"We were trying to compete in the game, and we only have 48 guys on the team that are active for the game, so we wanted to make sure that they went a good way in this football game and competed at a high level," Staley said Sunday when asked about certain veterans being on the field.
Asked again about it Thursday, Staley doubled down on playing his starters last weekend.
"I stand behind what we did in that football game," he said, per NFL Network’s Bridget Condon. "I didn't want anybody to get hurt in that game regardless of their status."
In the Chargers' 38-10 loss to the Jaguars in Week 3, Williams caught only one of his six targets, but the one reception was a 15-yard touchdown. For the season, Williams caught 63 passes for 895 yards and four TDs in 13 games.
Williams has missed at least one regular-season game because of injury in five of his six NFL seasons.
