Lions WR Jameson Williams Just Scratching Surface of Talent

Jameson Williams has grown into one of Jared Goff’s most reliable targets in the Lions passing game.

The fourth-year receiver is on pace for another 1,000-yard receiving campaign with less than 60 catches. He’s amassed 936 yards and seven touchdowns on 52 catches through 14 games this season, and is averaging a career-best 18.0 yards per reception.

The speed demon is also in the midst of a torrid stretch for himself. In each of the last three games, he’s caught at least seven balls, and has recorded north of 95 receiving yards.

The Alabama product also played a key role in Detroit’s 44-30 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Week 14. He amassed seven receptions and 96 yards in the winning effort.

He followed that up with a monstrous 134-yard, one-touchdown performance in the Lions’ 41-34 defeat at the hands of the L.A. Rams in Week 15. This included a 31-yard touchdown grab toward the end of the first half, during which Williams sped right past the Rams’ secondary to the end zone.

His outings the last three weeks have drawn rave reviews from fans and pundits alike, including seven-time Super Bowl champion and FOX Sports NFL analyst Tom Brady.

“You're not keeping up with him,” Brady said on the FOX broadcast after Williams’ touchdown vs. the Rams, “when you're playing that outside leverage.”

Williams also came through with a couple big catches in the fourth quarter of the contest, with the Lions trailing by two touchdowns. And Brady once again was impressed with the efforts of the speedster.

“Oh my god. How do you stop him? You think he's going deep with that elite speed and he puts the brakes on, turns it into a deep comeback on the scramble drill, and great awareness on the sideline,” Brady expressed.

As the season has progressed, Goff has developed an increasingly strong rapport with Williams. Additionally, Williams has stepped up big time in the absence of tight end Sam LaPorta, who has now missed multiple weeks with a back injury that will likely sideline him for the rest of the season.

"The way he works, the way he wants to put in the work, wants to know what he can do better, what he can do on this, and then he shows up on Sundays like he has been the last handful of weeks, dude,” the veteran signal-caller said about his budding star receiver. “It's like, him and St. Brown out there, who else do you want at receiver making those plays at the end of the game? I’m lucky to have them both, and he’s playing really well right now."

Williams’ level of respect for the Lions franchise passer is also sky high.

"Jared's my guy, man," Williams told reporters last week. "And it's all part of the game. We work with each other, we build with each other, we basically live with each other, we see each other every day, we're in here working on our game. That's what we do. And bonds and relationships and friendship come with that. So, it just gets better and closer every day."

Over his last three games, Williams has secured a total of 21 catches for 374 yards, trailing only Rams star wideout Puka Nacua in production during the aforementioned stretch. He's up to 10th in the NFL in receiving yards, and he's now second in the league to the Colts’ Alec Pierce in yards per catch for the second straight campaign.

Undeniably, Williams is starting to look like the receiver that Brad Holmes and the Lions thought he would become when they traded up to nab him with the No. 12 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.

Yet, the former first-round pick might only be scratching the surface of his full potential as an NFL receiver. The man throwing him passes certainly thinks so.

“He’s matured a lot as a player and has come into his own now and is so reliable, so trustworthy,” Goff said. “I've talked about it at length, but yeah, man, he’s got a lot of meat left on that bone for him.”

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