Year after year, wide receiver is one of the most sought out positions in the draft. With the popularity of the Spread Passing offense in the NFL now, more and more weight is put on receivers to truly take over games. Just this past year, we saw 3 wide receivers go inside of the Top 10, Ja’Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle and DeVonta Smith, who each have made immediate impacts for teams in the playoff race.
2022 will be no different, there are some great receivers entering the league via the Draft, who might get drafted just as high as some of the other great WR prospects that have come out of the Draft the last few seasons. One of my favorites is Jameson Williams, the speedy talent out of Alabama University. I personally think very highly of Williams, not just for his speed, but for his talent to be an immediate impact at receiver in the NFL.
Important Information:
Projected Position: Z
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 189 lbs
Birthday: 03/26/01
Career Stats (as of 01/01/22): 90 REC 1773 YDS 18 TD 19.7 YPC 2 KOR TD
Season Stats (as of 01/01/22): 75 REC 1507 YDS 15 TD 20.1 YPC 2 KOR TD
Trait Grades (out of 7):
Athletic Ability: 5
Play Speed: 6
Mental Processing: 4
Competitive Toughness: 4
Play Strength: 3
Release: 4
Separation Quickness: 4
Hands: 5
Adjust/Body Control: 6
YAC: 6
Find Seam: 4
Concentration/Courage: 5
Final Grade (out of 8):
6.75, Day 1 Quality Starter
Context:
Jameson Williams played his first season with Alabama in his 3rd college season, transferring from Ohio State after 2 seasons there buried in the depth Chart. He came onto the scene for Bama on day one as the starting “Z” receiver, putting up big numbers as a primary deep threat and YAC guy. He quickly overshadowed John Metchie, who was, and is, seen as one of the best WRs in CFB. Williams made a name for himself as possibly the best in the entire country.
Athletic Ability/Body Type:
Williams has good height, but has marginal weight for his height, with a slender, athletic build that he can fill out a little bit more, and seemingly great arm length. He has great foot speed, with good acceleration, good explosiveness, good core strength, good balance, and solid foot quickness.
Projection:
Jameson Williams is a starting Z receiver in a vertical passing scheme, with great potential to be among the best deep threats in the NFL. He wins with his great speed, and good secondary release to get open downfield. Williams has strong hands, with the ability to track the ball downfield, and has a great ability to control his body to make tough catches, contested catches, or work the sideline. He has great ability with the ball in his hands after the catch, shows impressive vision and contact balance, typically makes the first tackler miss. He can work on consistently stemming his routes, and developing a diverse release package, as well as separating at his break-point, not just relying on his speed to outrun the defender.
Conclusion:
Jameson Williams has speed, a lot of it. A lot of times when you see receivers who can run legit 4.2s or 4.3s coming out of school, it comes at a cost, as they typically aren’t very polished receivers. Jameson Williams, however, is an exception. He’s already great as a deep threat, but he can do more than enough in the short-to-intermediate passing game to be a threat no matter where he is on the field. He also has one of the best abilities to catch the football you’ll see. Not only will he make his uncontested catches, but even at his light and slender frame, he’ll make contested catches, he’ll work the sideline very well, he can adjust his body to make difficult catches, rare traits for a player with his skillset. Williams definitely has shades of Henry Ruggs in him, who before his bone-headed and tragic accident was developing into a great young receiver. I do think Jameson Williams is coming into the league as an even better player than Ruggs did, and Ruggs was selected first in his wide receiver class. For this reason, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Williams be the first WR off the board this spring, he has some good competition with names like Ohio State’s Garrett Wilson, USC’s Drake London, Arkansas’s Treylon Burks, and more, but Williams has some truly unteachable traits that may boost his name in front of those guys.
