Lions general manager Brad Holmes raises the bar for Jameson Williams

The games he played as a rookie didn’t go quite as well as hoped, but Lions general manager Brad Holmes has raised the bar for Jameson Williams looking to 2023.

Even under the most reasonable or realistic expectations coming off a torn ACL, one reception on nine targets and one carry over six games wasn’t what anyone envisioned for Jameson Williams in his truncated rookie season. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson confirmed that things didn’t click quite as quickly as he had hoped for Williams.

Clearly though, no one is giving up on Williams. The two times he had his hands on the ball this season, they were 41 and 40-yard plays. The Lions kept their cautious approach with his recovery right through to his snap counts in games, and a ridiculous early plan to use him as a gunner on the punt team never happened.

Lions general manager Brad Holmes had his after the season press conference on Tuesday. Williams was a natural topic to wrap up the 2022 campaign, and also look ahead to next season.

Detroit Lions: Brad Holmes raises the bar for Jameson Williams

Via Tim Twentyman of the team website, here’s what Holmes had to say about Williams.

"I don’t think anything he did this year is anywhere remotely close to where he’s going to go,” Holmes said of Williams. “We’ll determine what that role is and a lot of it is on him too. He’s going to have to put the work in this offseason, he’s going to have to be dedicated in his approach.We can provide all the resources and lay it all out, but he’s going to have to take the accountability and do it on his own. But I’ve got a lot of faith and confidence in Jameson and obviously, because we traded up for him and made the move for him. We all had the same belief, so I think he’s going to be just fine.”"

While he expressed his “faith and confidence” in Williams, Holmes clearly raised the bar for 2023 with comments about Williams having to “put in the work”, “take the accountability” and “be dedicated in his approach.”

When he was out, Williams’ engagement with the team was seen and his work to learn the Lions’ playbook was noted by coaches. So there should be no concerns over his work ethic, dedication, etc.

If he’s going to pay off the well-placed internal faith in his upside and pay off early 2023 breakout predictions, a fully healthy offseason to work will be a huge thing for Williams heading toward his second season.