Jameson Williams is proving to be an overcomer

Detroit Lions second year receiver Jameson Williams has gone through things that most pro's haven't had to. Especially in their first two years in the game. There's a lengthy list of obstacles that he's had to get over. Some were his fault and some were things that he couldn't avoid. But he's shown that he is simply a man that overcomes things. Let's talk about it. 

Jameson Williams was at one point going to be the number one receiver off the board in the 2022 NFL Draft. ESPN's Todd McShay had Williams going to the Falcons with the 8th pick a few weeks before the National Championship game. Unfortunately Williams tore his ACL in that national championship game. Hello obstacle number one. 

This obstacle caused Williams to have to miss his first training camp and much of his first NFL season. Once Williams was activated, the Lions still took it very easy with him because he hadn't had a chance to really practice with the team. 

Then before year two could even get under way, Williams got suspended for violating the NFL's gambling policy. I can't and won't blame him too much for this one. The NFL very clearly did a poor job explaining this policy and that's why they completely changed it this season and shortened Williams suspension. 

Then in his first training camp he got hurt and missed the remianing couple weeks of camp. Just to make things worse, he was unable to practice or receive treatment with the team during that time. We're at obstacle three at this point. 

Four comes along with a lot of fans calling him a bust and constantly worrying about his social media presence and what not. I mean there was actually a time this offseason where the discussion centered around Williams lighting fireworks off on the Fourth of July. That was a real thing that happened and was considered controversial at the time. 

Then he comes back early and the Lions have to take their time with him because he's never really played the NFL game before. So the targets and the snaps are down. That's obstacle number five. 

That's five pretty hard obstacles to overcome. You could totally understand why any player would struggle with that type of stuff in their way at the very beginning of their career. You could understand why a player would fail with that type of thing in their way. That's not happening for Williams. Despite all the problems, he's right on schedule. His schedule obviously being different due to circumstances.

Williams has been getting more snaps every week and has largely been playing full games recently. On Saturday he had the best showing of his young career. He was targeted a career high seven times and caught four of those passes for 47 yards. He averaged 11.8 yards per catch. That's pretty good. 

These weren't just deep throws either. Williams was worked into a ton of different aspects of the teams passing attack and he flourished. This catch stood out for sure.