How Quickly Can Jameson Williams Become an All-Pro?

Former NFL scout believes Detroit Lions hit a home run by selecting wideout Jameson Williams.

Day 1 of the 2022 NFL Draft is in the books, and the Lions crushed it by selecting relentless EDGE rusher Aidan Hutchinson and a speedster at wide receiver in Jameson Williams.

How quickly can Williams become an All-Pro?

Williams is coming off a torn ACL, which he suffered against Georgia Jan. 10. Such injuries generally require a healing time of six-nine months. However, the best-case scenario is that Williams could be cleared to play by July 10. This would be in time for training camp.

Word has spread that Williams even wanted to play in the second half of Alabama's aforementioned national title game loss to Georgia. But, his coach Nick Saban refused to let him re-enter the contest. 

More than anything, such eagerness to play in that second half illustrates Williams’ competitive fire, and strongly suggests a best-case recovery timeline.

While Williams’ start date is a question mark, two things are certain. 

There is no way Detroit would have made this move without its medical staff giving the green light (which is a good sign), and the other thing for certain is that Williams is extremely talented.

Headed into this draft, Williams was the No. 3 wideout on my big board, and he would have been my No. 2 receiver, had it not been for the injury. I had him mocked at No. 15 overall, and Detroit took him at No. 12.

I love Williams.

In 2021 against Texas A&M, Miami, Southern Mississippi, LSU and Arkansas, he looked like a burner, with 4.39 40-yard dash speed and the ability to take the top off a defense. Detroit has never had a receiver like this in the 40 years I have been watching the game. 

On game film, he showed a fast first step, and he was as explosive as he was crisp, coming in and out of his breaks while running routes. Williams caught the ball confidently with his hands.

While Williams was decent in the short game, his domain was in the intermediate-to-deep route levels. He did not look afraid to go across the middle, and he was a true deep threat in the aforementioned games.

© Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

© Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Williams will make his money in the NFL on the deep post, where he can stick his foot in the dirt at the top of that route and then turn it on -- and on the deep stop-and-go, when he will leave cornerbacks in the dust.

Watching him run routes and get deep was like watching poetry in motion when he played last season at Alabama.

Does that fit the description of an All-Pro?

Absolutely it does.

Williams instantly becomes the best receiver in Detroit’s wide receivers room, and he will make everyone else better by infusing Detroit with Alabama’s winning culture. 

He will allow fellow receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to settle more comfortably into his role by taking a lot of pressure off of him. Williams will additionally clear things out more underneath for St. Brown, because the safeties will be preoccupied with Williams.

Drafting Williams suddenly makes Detroit’s offense exciting, and it will give quarterback Jared Goff, or whoever is throwing the ball for the Lions, a legitimate deep threat. And, there is no substitute for that. 

Having a legitimate deep threat changes everything for Detroit’s offense, and it forces opposing defenses to be more honest. It keeps defenses from suffocating the short-to-intermediate passing game, and it also opens up the run game more.

How long will it take Williams to become an All-Pro?

In my estimation, he already is an All-Pro.

From the moment he steps on to the field in training camp, he will turn heads, raise eyebrows and cause those watching to murmur: “Wow.”

Williams carries himself like a superstar, and he handles himself like a race car in the body of a wide receiver.

When his knee is completely healed, the rest of the football world will call him an All-Pro, too.

I expect to see Williams in the Pro Bowl as a rookie.