The Detroit Lions made a massive move during the 2022 NFL Draft, trading up from 32 to 12 in order to select Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams. And as his debut draws near, Lions coaches are acknowledging the undeniable buzz surrounding the rookie.
Williams has not played this season. He is recovering from a torn ACL suffered in the 2022 National Championship Game. And yet, everyone around the Lions are raving about the rookie pass catcher.
“He’s picking it up. We go over it every day,” Lions receivers coach Antwaan Randle El said. “It’s like in between sessions we go over the plays with him, he can spit it right back out to me. …You just work every week, you know, what’s in the game plan?
“Hey, here it is and him go through it and give it to you, so he understands it. He can talk to you about coverages, stuff like that, so he gets it. The physical part, I’m not worried about. It’s always the mental you want to make sure a guy has. He has it. He’s getting it down,” the Lions coach finished.
Williams is eligible to return to practice next week, so he won’t feature in Sunday’s matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. However, there are no concerns about when the Lions receiver finally steps on the field.
“Oh, he can play,” Randle El said. “He’s a guy you can move around. He’s smart and he gets it in terms of being in different spots. That’s what you want to do with a guy like that, use his speed, whether it’s him running past somebody or him getting somebody else open. That speed means a lot. And then obviously he catches the ball well and gets in and out of his cuts, him and Saint (Amon-Ra St. Brown) are kinda alike, they get out of cuts so fast. It’s unbelievable.”
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