Jameson Williams did not catch a pass in the final game of his rookie season, but the electric Detroit Lions receiver gave one last tantalizing glimpse of his big-play ability in an eight-snap span in the second quarter of Sunday’s 20-16 win over the Green Bay Packers.
Williams caught a 66-yard flea-flicker touchdown pass from Jared Goff that was nullified by a holding penalty, pulling away from the Packers secondary on his way to the end zone, and a few plays later ran through the entire Green Bay defense only to have Goff spike the ball at his running back’s feet to avoid a pass rush.
TV cameras caught Williams extending his arms as if to say, “Throw it up and give me a chance,” on his way back to the sideline. And by the sounds of it, Williams should get plenty more opportunities when he returns to the field in 2023.
“I don’t think anything he did this year is anywhere remotely close to where he’s going to go,” Lions general manager Brad Holmes said Tuesday. “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 and 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 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.”
Williams finished a quiet rookie season with one catch in six games for a 41-yard touchdown, and one 40-yard rush on a reverse.
More:The 9 most important things Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes said in his news conference
He averaged 40.5 yards per touch — that average would have jumped to 49 yards had his flea-flicker touchdown stood — but never played more than 25% of the Lions’ offense snaps and showed he still has some rough edges to work out.
Williams, the No. 12 pick of last year’s draft, dropped his third pass of the season (in nine targets) against the Packers, when he went low but could not hang onto a ball that hit him in his chest. He body-caught Goff’s pass on the flea-flicker and had drops in late-season games against the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears.
Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said last week he “hoped it would click just a little bit faster than it has” with Williams and the offense this season. But a year removed from tearing his ACL in his final college game, Williams proved his speed is a weapon not to be trifled with.
According to the NFL’s NextGen stats, Williams topped 20 mph on both his reverse and reception, and he pulled away from Packers safeties Darnell Savage and Adrian Amos like a drag racer on his flea-flicker.
“He’s as talented as anyone I’ve been around and his future is so bright and I can’t wait to get to work with him this offseason and really get to hone in on what we want to do and what we want things to look like, and what he’s really good at and what I’m really good at, and really getting on the same page there,” Goff said. “But yeah, I think his future’s extremely bright and we wish we would have had him for 16 games or 17 games not six, but he did a hell of a job in those games.”
Williams did not catch passes from Goff last summer during rehab from his knee injury and only started practicing with the Lions in late November.
By the time he was ready for action, he was well down the depth chart, playing behind a quartet of receivers — Amon-Ra St. Brown, DJ Chark, Josh Reynolds and Kalif Raymond — who had spent months building a rapport with their quarterback.
Holmes said he expects Williams to take a big leap in 2023 now that he’s healthy and has a full offseason to devote to his craft, and the Lions are in position to give Williams a more prominent role on offense, too.
St. Brown and Raymond are the only other returning receivers under contract for 2022, though the Lions could look to re-sign one of Chark or Reynolds.
Goff said Williams’s speed won’t catch anyone off guard next season.
“We’ve gotten him the ball three times and they’ve been three big plays, so I don’t know how much we can say wow much longer. He’s good,” Goff said.
And Holmes insisted Williams will be “just fine” despite his muted debut.
“So I think a little bit of what you saw, I don’t think that’s really anywhere close to where this kid’s going to go,” Holmes said. “I mean, he made some big plays and he had some flashes, but the other thing about Jameson, he’s just a football player, man. So whatever the role is, I know a lot was made about that first game and was he going to be on punt team and all that stuff, man. That dude just wants to be out there on the football field, man. That’s just, that’s how he’s wired, that’s how he is.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.