Jameson is a player I had a hair below London in talent his senior year and most had as the best WR of that class before the injury. Add in the 6 game suspension and he has had a very tuff start.
However, I believe he will be a top 12 fantasy WR in the 2nd half and he is available in many leagues on the waiver wire. Here’s a good read from ESPN:
Williams was selected with the 12th overall pick of the 2022 draft, but he was limited to 74 snaps in six games while recovering from a torn ACL suffered the previous winter. Williams made his pro debut in Week 13 but never played more than 20 snaps in a game and was able to haul in only one of his nine targets. Now back to full health, Williams’ rare combination of height, elite speed and quickness make him a major threat for explosive plays and a terrific complement to slot man Amon-Ra St. Brown. Williams is facing a six-game suspension to begin the 2023 season, which makes him a tough sell as a late-round pick in 10-team leagues. However, he has league-winning upside once he’s a full-time player, so keep him on your radar in deeper leagues.
Don’t lose faith in Jameson Williams. Despite his six-game suspension, Williams remains an extremely talented wide receiver entering his sophomore season with a mountain of upside. Williams was placed in bubble wrap in 2022 by the Detroit Lions, who valued being careful with their blazing-fast rookie coming off a major injury (ACL tear). Assuming Williams is good to go for 2023, he’s still the same player that ranked 13th in yards per route run among all FBS wide receivers in 2021 (minimum 50 targets). Williams could be the number two option in this passing attack when he returns behind only Amon-Ra St. Brown. Williams is a WR4 that could crush his ADP in 2023.
Jameson Williams is Josh Gordon 2.0, and that’s probably generous considering Josh Gordon at least put one great season together before going off the rails. Picking Williams will cost you a roster spot for the first 6 weeks, and there’s a chance they will ease him into the offense after all that. I fully recognize that injuries can happen to any player, but also don’t forget that he had multiple injuries this preseason. If I was to draft him late as a dart throw, there’s a good chance he’s the first player I’m going to be dropping if roster spots get tight.
Through six career games, Williams has one touchdown on one catch and a 40-yard rush. Normally we’d tell you to ignore someone like this – especially someone with a six-week suspension to start the season – but Williams is a talented receiver. His speed is good enough to compete with Tyreek Hill, his size gives him a large catch radius and his practice experience in Detroit both last fall and this summer should eliminate any remaining learning curve. Once Williams comes back in Week 7, he should begin seeing at least six targets per game with gamebreaking potential on every touch. He’s the perfect kind of high-upside flex to pencil into lineups once he serves his suspension. If you like the depth at receiver this year, you could draft Williams in late Round 8 and find someone else to fill in. By Thanksgiving, we should know if Williams is a stud or a bust.
The Lions treaded Williams’ rookie year almost like a redshirt season. Injured with Alabama in the national championship game, Williams was drafted 12th overall but didn’t make it back onto the field until Week 13, and then the team kept him on a strict pitch count in terms of workload. He didn’t clear 20 snaps in a single game and never saw more than three plays designed to get him the football. Even on that limited workload, you could see the explosive speed he brings to the table and how defenses were forced to adjust. Williams has too much ability not to be a major factor this season in a full-time role.
We see four analysts from four different top fantasy sites, who do this for a living, all agreeing with me that Jameson is most definitely worth a shot.
First off… comparing J.Gordon to J.Williams is not even in the same hemisphere. Gordon was a large possession WR, while Williams is a small speedster. Williams has also not been away from the game for drug usage and was a top 12 pick.
I thought of the 6 week gamble to, but the combo of Williams and Kamara down the stretch was to hard to pass up. Having gotten Williams in the 18th (of 20) and Kamara in the 11th. K was a 2nd round pick last year and in a revitalized O with a better, more reliable all around QB, with new pieces; I like it. Jameson hasn’t gone any less than 40 yds both times he’s touched the ball as an NFL player and half the time it’s a T.D. J.Chase had the ‘dropsies’ in his roOkie pre-seaon, I picked him up in the 9th round and you know the rest. Throw in that most of the non-fielding time for both players occurs during the first month, where there are no BYE weeks, how could someone not take a stab at each?
Another option late was Mingo (early 2nd round (R), or someone I haven’t heard really anyone talk about and that’s ‘Terrace Marshal Jr’. This is a guy who’s coming into his 3rd season and last year would just lose the D in space, collecting nearly 500 yds on only 28 catches, boasting a 17.5 yds/rec. He played in 14 games last year, but only started 9. Now you have the top pick in the draft throwing to both of them. D.Chark is over-rated and Theilen is old & crumbly.
The thing about these 3 1st rounder starting QB’s is you don’t know who they’re going to favor and at what distribution, so take a shot on high draft capital targets with key metrics.
Kamara makes a little more sense, as a proven performer missing only 3 weeks. The most game experience Williams can have before Week 10 is 2 games, thanks to the Lions’ Week 9 bye–and are you really gonna shove him straight into your starting lineup in Week 7? Realistically, your best-case scenario is you get five or six weeks out of him in your starting lineup.
I plucked him for some best ball drafts over the summer, but then he hurt his back and Mingo got a leg up on the WR3 spot–and he has a rookie QB to boot. I’ll be happy to get a few big games out of him late in the season or something for those best ball teams, but I wouldn’t want to have to start him on the reg in a managed league.
Thielen is the only receiver I want in Carolina, and only as a WR5-7.
My take on this: Joe offered me Diontae Johnson for Williams today, and I took it. Williams is smelling a lot like Chase Claypool, aka king of the knuckleheads. Sure, he has tons of upside, if he can stop getting in his own way…not to mention the injuries.
Williams has WR1 upside, but also a goose egg floor.
No, actually. I wasn’t. I would never frame ‘touches’ in that way. I (or anyone) can’t know if all or some of the 8 incomplete passes ever ‘touched’ Williams hands unless you go back and watch the whole game, so it can (figuratively) only mean statistically… “Drops” are integrated into the statistic of incomplete passes, regardless of how it occurred.
You don’t have the same understanding of statistical representation when it comes to a ‘touch’. Because if you did, you’d know what I’m saying is correct in statistical terms. I already made this point. Head to Pro Football Reference. They even keep track of this statistic there. They’ve also recently added a first down conversion percentage for each player per rush or rec.
