One consistent talking point of the Lions offseason was that wide receiver Jameson Williams has taken significant steps forward heading into his third NFL season and the theme hasn’t gone away with the regular season about to get underway.
It was General Manager Brad Holmes’s turn to discuss Williams on Thursday and he discussed the growth that he’s seen from the 2022 first-round pick. Williams’s rookie season got off to a delayed start due to a knee injury he suffered at Alabama and his second season began with a suspension for violating the league’s gambling policy, but there’s been no obstacles to his preparations for this season and Holmes said that’s allowed Williams to show that he’s matured into the kind of person the Lions thought he would become.
“I’m sure you guys have talked to him already and he’s told you that he had to mature a lot, and you saw that,” Holmes said, via the team’s website. “We do a lot of research and background on all of these players that we acquire, and we had a good sense of who Jamo was as a person, but we definitely felt comfortable that he was going to be a fit for us, and he’s shown the growth. When we drafted him, we said, ‘He’s going to need to grow up a little bit.’ And he did, so it’s been right on pace.”
The Lions advanced to the NFC Championship Game last season without Williams making a massive impact on games. If the offseason hype translates to in-season production, taking the next step might be within their reach this time around.