While many people would agree that 262 was the best fighter of WW2, I'd say it was too good. Therefore it's mass production was hardly achievable, and therefore Germans needed a more simple fighter to bulk out the numbers - so they went for Volksjaeger. The only fault of He-162 was that it was ordered a year too late - too late to replace Bf-109 Fw-190.
I agree, but I also think that even a year is too optimistic. That'd mean the He 162 enters service around february '44 around the same time as the 'big week'. I don't think a tranistion of say more than 50 % of the JGs could be complete earlier than mid '44, roughly the same time the Jagdwaffe was broken.
I think to be a serious thread the jets would need to equip a larger part of the fighter force (30-50 %?) as early as february '44. That'd place their introduction at about autumn '43. Tough schedule.