Last week, Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson talked about the "Jameson effect", as in the effect wide receiver Jameson Williams has on how defenses play the Lions' offense. The target volume he over the first two games has corrected, as expected, but it's clear Williams does not need big target volume to be impactful.
Williams had two catches on Monday night against the Seattle Seahawks. The first was after Jared Goff did a 360 in the pocket. The second was, well....the kind of play Williams can uniquely add to the Detroit offense.
Waymo: Primetime Mode#SEAvsDET | #OnePride pic.twitter.com/D6S8q4PAud
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) October 1, 2024
Jameson Williams has come of age, and everyone is noticing
When the Lions reconvened for OTAs in May, Lions head coach Dan Campbell wasted no time to praise Williams. He carried that momentum unabated through training camp, and now into the season.
After the game Monday night, via 97.1 The Ticket, Amon-St. Brown and Goff tapped into what Johnson said before.
"Defenses now gotta watch out for a guy who can run past you in one second, so they're playing deeper, and hopefully they will start playing a lot deeper," St. Brown said. "They know he’s fast, but the more plays he makes, the more stress he’s gonna put on defenses."
"He’s a one-play touchdown guy and I know he strikes fear in every team we play', Goff said. "They’re going to see (the touchdown Monday night) and it’s going to strike even more fear."
Right tackle Taylor Decker went a different direction with his praise for Williams.
"I give him a lot of credit," Decker said. "He matured a lot (this offseason), and he took a lot of responsibility on himself to be able to get himself to the level that he's at now. I'm not a receiver expert, but I still think there's even more there. He's just done a really good job coming to work as a professional. It's showing, it's paying dividends. We saw it in training camp."
During his press conference on Tuesday, Campbell was asked about Williams' development and gave a very detailed answer.
"There's a lot of people that are involved with that. Everything starts with him first, by the way....he's done an outstanding job of...man, rehabbing getting over the injury...he had to deal with what came with the gambling and time off, and then he got hurt in camp before that happened.....He's just matured so much, he's matured and he's worked and he's grinded. That's a credit to him, he's open and he's coachable. There's a number of people, talking about development. Sean (Pugh, co-Director of Player Engagement/Team Chaplain) and Jessica (Gray, Director of Player Engagement/Team Programs), player engagement, his teammates...we have so many resources here that help guys develop, certainly as players, but as men."
Williams has himself acknowledged how he's developed and matured as a person. With that the talent which made him the 12th overall pick in the 2022 draft come out in full, without an injury or other distractions getting in the way.