For a while there, it was uncertain what was to become of Jameson Williams.
The Detroit Lions wide receiver got his career off to about as tough a start as you can ask for. A torn ACL in the 2021 national championship game when he was playing for Alabama forced him to miss the Lions’ offseason program as a rookie and the first 11 games of 2022.
A suspension for violating the NFL’s gambling policy before the 2023 season cost him even more time, missing Detroit’s first four games of that year and struggling to reclaim his place in the offense after all the time he had missed.
There were flashes of the big-play ability that made the Lions trade up for him in the first round of the 2022 draft, but he was largely relegated to a gadget role.
Williams broke out last year in 2024, catching 58 passes for 1,001 yards and seven touchdowns as he was a key part of one of the most prolific offenses in NFL history. Detroit rewarded him with a three-year contract extension worth up to $83 million before this season.
But even then, he was clearly behind fellow wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown in the pecking order. A dangerous deep threat, but perhaps not the complete package.
What we’ve been seeing from him lately, though, has been on a whole new level.
“He's becoming that player we always knew he could be over the course of this season,” quarterback Jared Goff said after the Lions’ 44-30 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night. “He's as reliable a guy as I've ever played with at this point. Third down, fourth down, don't matter. He'll make the play. He'll show up.”
Williams looks like a legitimate NFL wide receiver 1, and not just because of the number change. When St. Brown went down early in Detroit’s Thanksgiving game against Green Bay, the team needed Williams to step up.
He responded by catching a career-high seven passes for 144 yards and a touchdown. It was arguably the first time in his career that he was Detroit’s top option in the passing game.
With St. Brown back in the fold against the Cowboys this week, Williams matched his reception career high again. He caught seven passes for 96 yards, proving he could be a reliable threat throughout the game with or without St. Brown on the field.
READ MORE: 4 winners (and 2 losers) from season-saving Lions win over Cowboys
Williams worked incessantly this offseason to improve his route running and become a more complete player, more than a speed specialist whose primary role is to take the top off.
“I run a lot of the same routes as everybody else on this team, but people say I just go deep,” Williams said this week. “I guess that's what they just see, but I run the same routes as everybody else.”
That long speed is without a doubt still there and not going anywhere, shown by how much defensive attention he gets in that part of the field, but Williams is starting to make defenses pay for worrying so much about what he might do over the top. His intermediate route running is arguably the most striking difference between this version of Williams and the one we’ve seen the past couple of years.
Against Dallas and Green Bay, Williams was the complete package. He was throttling down on comeback routes, getting separation on crossing routes and doing damage in the quick game, taking a screen pass to the house on Thanksgiving after a jaw-dropping broken tackle.
He’s accessing the intermediate part of the field like never before, and it’s taken his game to another level.
Williams has had some duds this year on the stat sheet, with six games of two or fewer receptions. The Lions have been vocal about wanting to get him more involved, with offensive coordinator John Morton publicly stating he “failed” Williams back in October. After a zero-catch game against the New York Giants two weeks ago, he’s looked like a different player.
If Williams can keep this consistency up, the Lions have two number 1-caliber receivers under contract through 2028. And Williams’ cap hit will not exceed $14.5 million until 2029. That extension, seen as a questionable move by some during his quiet stretch earlier this year, could wind up being a bargain.
Time will tell if this is the version of Williams that lasts throughout his career. But he looks like he’s really turned a corner and finally been able to overcome some of the bad luck that robbed him of so much critical time that set his development back. For a guy with an infectious personality and a sense of joy that has already made him a fan favorite, there’s a real chance Detroit starts to love “Jamo” a whole lot more.
Just as Williams recently said, “If I got space, I know it's like a 99.999% chance I score."