Jameson Williams had a dynamite season for the Detroit Lions last fall. This year, new Lions offensive coordinator John Morton said Williams should be even better.
“I’m so excited to see him this year,” Morton said. “It’s going to be a breakout year for him. I can’t wait. I just can’t wait, man.”
Williams set career-highs last fall in receiving yards (1,001), touchdowns (seven) and catches (58) while playing the closest thing he has to a full season – 15 games – since the Lions traded up to take him with the 12th pick in the 2022 NFL draft.
He led the NFL with six catches of 50 or more yards, finished second in yards per catch (17.3) and was the most dangerous deep threat on the league’s highest-scoring offense.
Williams missed 16 games in his first two NFL seasons because of injuries and suspensions and delivered sporadic production when he was on the field. He caught one pass in six games as a rookie and didn’t top 70 yards receiving in a game until last year.
Both Morton and Lions receivers coach Scottie Montgomery praised Williams’ work ethic this spring, with Montgomery saying Williams had “probably one of the better meetings I’ve ever seen him” have this week.
“It was a total offensive meeting where you’re talking about the communication level and the questions and the football IQ and the acumen that he was asking questions about is what you really wanted to see and that’s what we got to do,” Montgomery said. “Are we where we want to be? No, we’re not there. And I’m not saying that he’s showing us something that he’s not there, but we’re going to take baby steps. If he keeps developing the way he’s at, the way he’s doing right now, he’s going to get to a location that he really, really likes.”
Montgomery, who moved from running backs coach to receivers coach this offseason and remains the Lions’ assistant head coach, said his goal for Williams is to be more consistently productive this fall.
Williams had three 100-yard games last season and three games with a single catch, including in the Lions’ playoff loss to the Washington Commanders. He also threw an ill-advised interception on an end-around against the Commanders and served a two-game suspension early in the year for violating the NFL’s policy on performance enhancing substances.
“We’ve seen his best,” Montgomery said. “We’ve constantly seen him grow and seen his best, like games where he has been his best. And then we’ve seen some situations to where it was good, but it wasn’t his best, right? That’s where we’ve grown to now. Now, it’s just the consistency of seeing his best. Is there a yardage connected to that? For me, no. Is there an attitude connected to that? For me, yes. And that’s what we have to look forward to with him.”
Dave Birkett is the author of the book, “Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline.” Order your copy here. Contact him at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Lions OC John Morton predicts ‘breakout year’ for WR Jameson Williams in new offense
Reporting by Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
