On Friday, Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams was back in St. Louis to see his jersey get retired at his high school alma mater, Cardinal Ritter College Prep. ESPN’s Eric Woodyard went down there to see the festivities and talk to Williams that night.
Williams shared with Woodyard a personal goal of his for the 2024 NFL season, and it’s a pretty lofty one.
“I just want to have the most yards and touchdowns—that would be my personal goals," Williams said. “Out of the whole NFL, I want to have the most receiving yards and touchdowns. It don’t matter about catches, because I know what I’m gonna do when I get the ball.”
That’s a high standard he’s setting for himself considering he’s only had over 50 receiving yards in three career games thus far. For the sake of reference, last year’s receiving leader (Tyreek Hill) finished with 1,799 receiving yards, or an average of 105.8 yards per game in a 17-game season.
But there are expectations for a huge jump in production for Williams in Year 3. He lost most of his rookie season as he recovered from a torn ACL suffered in college. He subsequently missed much of training camp in his second year due to a hamstring injury, then missed the first month of the season with a gambling suspension. Unsurprisingly, he looked extremely raw and underdeveloped when he finally saw the field in 2023. But toward the end of the season, he was putting it together. In his final six games of the year (including playoffs), he caught 17 of 25 targets for 238 yards and two touchdowns, with an additional 48 rushing yards.
#Lions WR Jameson Williams returns to St. Louis to get his high school jersey No. 3 retired at his alma mater, Cardinal Ritter College Prep — which is the lone Black Catholic co-ed HS in the country. “An accomplishment I have is checked off, but it’s nowhere near the finish.” pic.twitter.com/8e6Yy9xjR8
— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) August 30, 2024
His development took another step this offseason, with him looking like a completely reborn player in training camp.
“This is the most confident that I’ve seen him since he’s been here,” coach Dan Campbell said after one week of camp. “He came in with the right mindset when we started this offseason and that has not waned one bit. He’s in a good place and he’s taken the coaching, he’s trying to work on it, he’s improving and he’s making plays, so we like where he’s at mentally and emotionally.”
That improvement continued through the summer, as the Lions were apparently confident enough in Williams’ ability to not even play him in the preseason. That’s because it became clear that Williams had shown enough growth in his game and made it through his first entire training camp of his career.
“I think he’s attacking the game the way he should attack it now, like a professional. His route running has improved, catching the ball has improved,” assistant general manager Ray Agnew said last week. “He’s an exciting kid to watch play, and I’m expecting big things out of him this year.”
Does that mean Williams is in for a 1,500-yard season? That certainly seems unlikely, but you’ve got to admire the confidence and aspirations of the 23-year-old receiver.
