Antwaan Randle El serving as a mentor for Jameson Williams
Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams missed the majority of his rookie season in 2022 and will miss some time this upcoming season as well for Lions. The former Alabama standout tore his ACL in the final game of his college career, causing him to miss the first 12 games of the 2022 NFL season. And after violating the league’s gambling policy, he will also miss the first six weeks of the 2023 season.
Williams’ young NFL career has already come with its fair share of adversity, but former Pittsburgh Steelers wideout and current Lions wide receivers coach Antwaan Randle El is doing his best to mentor him through the process.
“I don’t have to motivate him much when it comes to ball. He loves the game and wants to be better and works at it,” Randle El told Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News. “But the encouragement part, with all that’s going on, . . . it’s just, ‘Hey, keep doing what you’re doing; stay at it, in terms of working hard. This is just another stumbling block that, again, you’ll come out stronger on the other side.’”
For a second straight season, Williams will have to wait his turn before being able to join his teammates on the field. A feeling that’s unfortunately familiar to him, but one that Randle El is combatting with encouragement.
“Those types of things, just encouraging him from that standpoint,” Randle El said. “He gets it; he understands it; and it will be [good] for him once we do get back and get going, as it relates into the season and the preseason.”
In his six-game appearances last season to close out the year, Williams recorded nine catches for 41 yards and a touchdown, getting his feet wet as he returned from injury and adjusted to the NFL level.
He was a standout in college, ranking fifth in the nation in receiving yards with 1,572 and tying for second in the nation in receiving touchdowns with 15 in his senior season. Despite ending his collegiate career with a devastating injury, Detroit still traded up in the 2022 NFL Draft to select Williams with the No. 12 overall pick.
His talent and skillset are apparent, but getting on the field and staying on the field has been his Achilles heel thus far as a pro. However, Randle El believes that he’s on the right track based on the offseason he’s had and can continue to have moving forward.
“It’s just a matter of him being on the field over and over again,” Randle El said. “Man, that’s part of having that offseason, and that’s why you always want a young guy to have the offseason to just be able to get ready for the season. . . . Training camp is coming up. Again, another opportunity on the field, being with the quarterbacks, hearing the calls, all those different things that need to take place over and over again. You can see he’s getting it.”
Williams returns to Detroit’s lineup in Week 7 when the team hit the road and faces the Baltimore Ravens, as a year and a half of adversity will finally be lifted off of his shoulders and his offseason’s work will finally pay off.