{"id":95810,"date":"2025-06-01T14:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T14:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/95810\/"},"modified":"2025-06-01T14:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T14:10:10","slug":"its-time-to-embrace-not-fret-jameson-williams-future-with-lions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/95810\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s time to embrace, not fret, Jameson Williams\u2019 future with Lions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey, here\u2019s an idea: how about we let Jameson Williams play this upcoming season before we start making plans for his future, yeah?<\/p>\n

I know. I get it. You\u2019re still not over how he missed the majority of his rookie season with an ACL injury he suffered in the National Championship game that same year. You might still be stuck on how a 23-year-old could make some questionable decisions, like lighting off fireworks or getting suspended for gambling while on the job site. And he still didn\u2019t learn from those mistakes. After all, he was suspended again for \u201cPEDs\u201d last year, and that incident with a gun, surely all that would prevent him from reaching his potential, right?<\/p>\n

Wait, he finished 2024 as one of the most dynamic big-play threats in the NFL? Of the 94 wide receivers with at least 45 targets, Williams finished fourth in yards per reception (17.3) and third in yards after catch per reception (8.4). But what about his hands? I remember how his hands were a huge problem at training camp, and he was catching the ball with his body too much\u2026 He posted the 18th-best drop rate (3.3%, two drops) and finished ahead of similarly targeted receivers like DeVonta Smith and Nico Collins (both at 5.6% and four drops a piece) and Jaylen Waddle (9.4%, six drops).<\/p>\n

Alright, so he had one good season; that doesn\u2019t mean you empty out your wallet for the guy. The Detroit Lions<\/a> are stock-full of skill position players, some that may need extensions after this season, like Sam LaPorta. Even Brad Holmes admitted that wide receivers are expensive, \u201cvery expensive,\u201d in fact<\/a>. But what seems to get glossed over from Holmes\u2019 media availability at the owners meetings was what he had to say earlier about Jamo.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, he was a tremendous player for us last year,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cHe\u2019s still scratching the surface. I do think he\u2019s got more in him as well. So I just think it just makes sense for us to do what we can to keep him around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sounds like a player that the general manager thinks pretty highly of, but I wonder what the coaches think of him\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cUnbelievable. Just unbelievable,\u201d new offensive coordinator John Morton had to say about his first impression of Williams<\/a>. \u201cWhen I first got here, he came in to see me, we had a chat, and I\u2019m painting the picture, \u2018This is what you need to do, this is how I see it,\u2019 and he has been unbelievable. Unbelievable in the meetings, the attention to detail; I mean, I\u2019m so excited to see him this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even the guy heading up this whole operation, Dan Campbell, is excited for what\u2019s to come for Williams, even looking to him as one of the focal points for the offense moving forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit for him,\u201d Campbell said ahead of Friday\u2019s session of OTAs. \u201cHe\u2019s exactly where we want him to be right now at this point. He\u2019s been here, he\u2019s grinding, he\u2019s getting better. Scottie [Montgomery] is freakin\u2019 grinding him. It\u2019s awesome. But we expect him to have a huge season. We really do, man. He\u2019s going to be one of these guys that we\u2019re going to lean on this year and is really going to be big for us. All he\u2019s got to do is just keep working like he\u2019s working, and we\u2019ll be good.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the chemistry between Williams and quarterback Jared Goff, the trust and communication between the two, it continues to develop. Goff recognized how far Jamo has come in those respects and marveled at the growth he\u2019s seen in Williams consistency and leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s already made it, man. It\u2019s been awesome to see. He\u2019s done a hell of a job,\u201d Goff said last week. \u201cJust continue to do what he\u2019s done, and just get more consistent\u2014and he\u2019s done that. He really has. He\u2019s working hard, he\u2019s being a leader now, which is fun to see him grow into that and show guys how he wants to do things. He\u2019s talking to me a ton. It\u2019s fun, man.\u201d <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the bottom line: Williams is a vital piece of the Lions\u2019 offensive success\u2014and that was already true in 2024. It wasn\u2019t just the emergence of Jahmyr Gibbs last season, Williams played a key role in taking Detroit\u2019s offense to another level. The coaches are gushing about him and predicting a \u201cbreakout\u201d season for a player who already had that type of season a year ago\u2014the general manager echoed that with his \u201cstill scratching the surface\u201d comment, too.<\/p>\n

So, instead of spending the offseason drumming up potential exit strategies for Detroit\u2019s 24-year-old receiver still realizing his potential, how about we embrace the integral role he\u2019ll play for the Lions? After all, tough times don\u2019t last, but tough people do, and that feels especially true for the redemption of Jameson Williams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hey, here\u2019s an idea: how about we let Jameson Williams play this upcoming season before we start making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,1262,2506,25182,7,25183,29,5104,3381,5844,147,6,813,152,151,396,149,528,607,717],"class_list":{"0":"post-95810","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroit-lions-opinion","11":"tag-detroitlions","12":"tag-embrace","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-fret","15":"tag-front-page","16":"tag-future","17":"tag-it","18":"tag-jameson","19":"tag-lions","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-not","22":"tag-of","23":"tag-pride","24":"tag-s","25":"tag-time","26":"tag-to","27":"tag-williams","28":"tag-with"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114608513132473646","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}