Despite a strong debut in 2024, the best is yet to come for Jameson Williams

Jameson Williams took the podium for the first time for a postgame interview, and it was clear he was still beaming from his impressive 2024 debut. He was still holding the ball that was awarded to him after the game as the Sunday Night Football Player of the Game, and he still had that big smile that defines Williams' affable personality.

“I’ve never done that before,” Williams said with a grin, referring to the post-match press conference.

There were many firsts for Williams on Sunday night. It was the first time he played in a Week 1 game, it was the first time he played more than 70% of the team's offensive snaps, it was the first time he totaled over 100 receiving yards (the previous high was 69), and it was the first time he accounted for more than half of the team's receiving yards (55.8%).

And according to Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, that's just the tip of the iceberg for Williams.

“The best part about it was he didn't even play his best game. There's so much to improve on, but it also shows how much work he's put in,” Campbell said. “He's improving, he's a better player, and he wants it, and he keeps working on it. And he just keeps making those steps. So as long as he keeps doing that and keeps playing, he's just going to keep getting better. So yeah, I'm proud of him, I'm proud of where he is, but he's got so much room to keep developing.”

It seems important to note that this was only Williams' 12th start of his young career. While he's entering his third season, he's still relatively inexperienced — and he's only 23 years old. He just completed his first full training camp, and this will be his first season as the team's de facto No. 2 receiver behind Amon-Ra St. Brown.

And yes, Williams has no intention of representing the pinnacle of his abilities with his 121-yard performance.

“Personally, I'm expecting a big match. I guess it's just great for the world because it's my first,” Williams said. “But I have a lot more planned. I don't plan for this to be the best match of my career. I plan for this to be just the beginning of being myself.”

Having Williams as a real threat is such a key part of this offense, and Sunday night's game against the Los Angeles Rams was a perfect example of that. The Rams' defense took away yards from Amon-Ra St. Brown (13 yards) and Sam LaPorta (45) for most of the game. No other wideout managed to get a single point from Jared Goff. But that's how an offense should work. When a defense focuses on taking away one or two weapons, the other weapons come to the forefront.

“That's just our offense. We knew from the beginning that we have stats, we have players, one person isn't getting going, we have others we can rely on,” Williams said. “The offense, kudos to (offensive coordinator) Ben [Johnson]he called the right plays, he knows the right situation to put us in. It was like St. Brown was turned on and off a lot, he was double-covered a lot. Someone else has to make the plays, and I just made the plays when my number was called.”