Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams easily pointed to as 2023 breakout candidate

It was always looking like next year would bring the full version of Jameson Williams, and he is naturally being pointed to as a 2023 breakout candidate.

No matter how many games he wound up playing as a rookie, coming off a torn ACL in January, Jameson Williams‘ rookie season was always going to be a relatively small sampling of what he could do. And it would quite possibly a very tantalizing sample, as he got acclimated and his speed came back.

Hopes were certainly higher than one catch through four games, as we’ve seen to this point. But the fully fleshed out version of Williams was never going to be coming until next season. The end portion of this season, which will be six games, is about building him up in all aspects with an eye on a big role in 2023.

Matt Lombardo of Heavy.com recently made a list of 10 breakout stars to watch in 2023.

Williams of course made the list.

Jameson Williams easily tabbed as a 2023 breakout candidate

Here’s what Lombardo wrote.

"A torn ACL suffered in the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship Game delayed Jameson’ Williams’ NFL debut until Week 14, but the rookie didn’t waste any time proving how impactful he can be in the Detroit Lions’ offense.Williams took his first pass from quarterback Jared Goff 41 yards for the touchdown, making an emphatic statement about his capabilities in the Lions’ offense opposite star receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.He probably would have been the first wide receiver chosen in the draft, if he were healthy last season,” an NFL pro personnel director recently told Heavy.Presuming Williams gets through the Lions’ final two games of the regular season and any postseason run unscathed, having a full offseason to build strength in his knee could give him the potential to emerge as an elite receiver with prolific production in 2023."

Williams of course actually made his NFL debut in Week 13, but it’s a factual miss that shouldn’t obscure Lombardo’s overall point. A fully healthy offseason, and getting further removed from his knee injury (now coming up on the one year mark since), will only help Williams heading toward his second season.

Head coach Dan Campbell has pointed to trying to get Williams more targets from here on out this year, though we’ll see if that comes to fruition. In any case, his sheer talent level has Williams easily being eyed as a breakout candidate for 2023 and this won’t be the last time we see something along that line.